Familiar Baltimore TV-lawyer commercial: Saiontz & Kirk’s Ryan Saiontz intones, ‘If you have a phone — or a computer — you have a lawyer.’

NEW MILLENNIUM LITIGATORS
NEVER GET THE RESPECT
THEY RIGHTLY DESERVE

Why is everyone so down on attorneys?
 
By David Maril
 
It’s become fashionable to knock lawyers.

People who couldn’t tell a funny joke to save their lives can recite insulting wisecracks about the legal profession.

The fact lawyers are held in such low esteem came to mind the other day when watching a couple of local TV commercials for what many of us would term “ambulance chaser” attorneys. The lawyers on the commercials urge people to come forward and hire them to file lawsuits for injuries and illnesses another party or business may be responsible for.

The general public has a low opinion of personal-injury trial attorneys who focus on corporate negligence and medical malpractice claims. It’s true some of these lawyers have ended up making a fortune through success pursuing extravagant financial settlements.

Detractors will make up disparaging stories about lawyers dragging people with fake bandages into court — who then discard their casts and wheelchairs to dance around celebrating over huge settlements. The materialistic tone of these TV commercials, which seem to be increasing in number, are not helping the already low image the public has of the legal profession.

Unless it’s in the context of a television program, lawyers today do not get any respect.

Yet for some reason the public has always reveled in watching lawyers protect the justice system with honesty and integrity on TV. In the history of popular television, just look at the number of top-rated legal shows: You can start with “Perry Mason” and “The Defenders” and go all the way up through “Matlock” and all the “Law & Order” programming.

But when it comes to the real world many people take a dim view of the legal profession and question its ethics and motives.

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), right, and Los Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger (William Talman) approach the bench, in 1950s/60s TV series based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner.

When the subject of lawyers is mentioned, eyes roll and complaints of red tape and high legal fees are often raised.

To some, being a lawyer ranks on the same level as being an embezzler, pickpocket or politician.

“They chase ambulances, looking for lawsuits to pry money from people and companies,” is a charge leveled quite frequently.

It’s not uncommon to hear comments like, “Lawyers and their litigation are ruining this country.”

Or, “Leave it to a lawyer to take something simple that can be settled out of court with common sense and make it a complicated issue that costs everyone money.”

A few years ago a neighbor of mine complained after a nearby house had been sold. “I heard a lawyer bought the place,” he said. “Just what we don’t need, a lawyer moving onto the block.”

I mistakenly thought he was joking.

OK, there are greedy lawyers. And there are attorneys around who do not always have the best interest of their clients at heart. However, every profession has its share of people who don’t measure up under close scrutiny.

I believe those who chase ambulances and try to exploit situations unfairly are the exception rather than the rule.

Take a moment to evaluate the people you know who are lawyers. We all have friends that are lawyers who we know are honest and have the best of intentions. I think it’s safe to say most of us are familiar with plenty of lawyers who work tirelessly around the clock to serve their clients.

Most of the attorneys I know will go out of their way to encourage settlements in cases, before they go to court. With the exception of divorce cases, where too often emotion pushes things into a win-at-all-cost mentality, the lawyers I know are reasonable and practical.

Although he never played a law- yer, comic actor Rodney Danger- field could ‘never get no respect.’

The process alone of becoming a lawyer, forging through law school and having to pass stringent state bar exams, is enough to discourage all but the most dedicated.

Many go into the legal profession to defend people without enormous wealth, giving them a chance to compete on equal footing against the rich, famous and powerful in a court of law.

Certainly it’s true we live in a society that has become needlessly controlled by litigation. But that’s not entirely the fault of lawyers.

Blame people who are too often greedy, self-centered and caught up in the ruthless nature of the corporate world for having a need to hire lawyers.

For the most part, lawyers abide by a high code of ethics and steer their clients to play by the rules.

What could be more honorable than that?
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
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