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Lawyers do have the potential to be well respected and those who care for their clients ethically and fairly enjoy a good reputation and the absolute confidence of the public.
However, where do we, the public fid these lawyers who are of good reputation?
We have heard of thousand languishing in prison when they are innocent, thousand of miscarriages of justice, lives destroyed, children without parents and parents without children. How has such a situation come to pass. Are magistrates so careless of their obligations to be fair and scrupulous or is that solicitors have not carried out their research or have been sloppy in doing so; after all they are only legal aid clients? Legal aid clients down at the bottom of the pile, disrespected and not even given half the service they need to present their case? This is what we, the public hear is the case. Tell me how cases can be dragged on for years and come to dust when all the facts add up and the client should have won? How can this be? I have heard this week of a client who suffered severe abuse in care being case managed by a car crash investigator. How disrespectful. Then the case dropped just after legal aid was granted. No explanations after two years of pain for the client. Where to go? How to get help to sue the solicitor. A do it yourself job where further damage will be done. May I suggest that the legal fraternity look to themselves for the answer to the question, why do they not enjoy the respect of the community and start there. respect is earned, not a matter of being bestowed. Respect will not be bestowed on you as a matter of course. This also applies other professions equally. Perhaps legal trainees should study ethics and sociology or philosophy to mature fully into people who will be respected, if that is what they desire.