Canadian Lawyer

16 F e b r u A r y 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m Pardon my cynicism, but I don't think very many lawyers show up for work in the morning thinking, "I'm an agent of peace, and today I will play a critical part in the justice system and also, while I'm at it, serve the public interest." (Although, they might make claims like these at a dinner party, after several glasses of wine.) Along with everyone else in the work force, law- yers show up for work, often dispirited, with particular tasks to perform, tasks frequently dull and pedestrian. They also show up worried about whether they can cobble together six or seven billable hours for the day, fretting about where the next lot of clients and files are coming from, and wondering why their partners aren't pulling their weight. One of the many criticisms lev- eled against my 2007 book Lawyers Gone Bad was that it was mostly about unprincipled solicitors and ignored the significant contribution to the justice system of other branches of the pro- fession, particularly criminal defence lawyers. (I admit there was some merit to this criticism.) Criminal defence law- yers, so the argument goes, are wonder- ful people who selflessly fight for human rights, defend the innocent, protect the justice system, etc., etc. The late Eddie Greenspan, for example, often spoke eloquently on this subject. He told the Empire Club as long ago as 1987, "Our community can retain justice and free- dom only as long as it gives standing to one person to take, within the limits of the law, the defendant's side in court and to remind society when the scales of justice are tilting in the wrong direc- tion." Great stuff. But there's some reason to think claims like these are more rheto- ric than reality. Consider the paper by Elaine Craig of Dalhousie Law School, to be published in the UBC o lawyers really do the highfalutin stuff they claim they do? Does the reality measure up to the rhetoric? The rhetoric, in its purest form, is impressive (if just a little vague). The Canadian Judicial Council, for example, answering the question "what do lawyers do," says on its web site, "lawyers play a critical part in the justice system." A mediation web site I picked at random says, "Lawyers are agents of peace and order in the society." The United Nations has described lawyers as "essential agents of the administration of justice." Finding extravagant quotations of this kind is like shooting fish in a barrel. And, of course, woven through all the ex cathedra pronouncements is a lot of palaver about lawyers serving the public interest. L e g A L e t h I C s o p I N I o N @philipslayton Dushan Milic D Reconciling rhetoric and reality Lawyers must operate effectively in a harsh world but not forget bigger ethical purposes and obligations. By Philip Slayton

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