Comments on: What is the Code for Lawyer? http://blog.bennettandbennett.com/2010/03/what-is-the-code-for-lawyer.html the tao of criminal-defense trial lawyering Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:39:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kris Howcroft http://blog.bennettandbennett.com/2010/03/what-is-the-code-for-lawyer.html/comment-page-1#comment-13649 Kris Howcroft Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:51:06 +0000 http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2010/03/what-is-the-code-for-lawyer.html#comment-13649 Though your being right this time makes me sad, the American culture's Code for lawyers most certainly is CHEATERS. As in, "cheating on my behalf so I get away with something for which I deserve to be punished or get something good I don't otherwise deserve" = good, "cheating on the other guy's behalf so he gets away with something for which he deserves to be punished or gets something good he doesn't otherwise deserve" = bad. And remember, anything that occurs in court that results in the unjust, wrong-from-my-perspective outcome must be the result of cheating, since otherwise, the courts would produce nothing but pure, unadulterated justice flowing like milk and tasting like honey. These cultural perspective result in a society that simultaneously reviles attorneys at every opportunity, and yet hires them at every turn. Though your being right this time makes me sad, the American culture’s Code for lawyers most certainly is CHEATERS. As in, “cheating on my behalf so I get away with something for which I deserve to be punished or get something good I don’t otherwise deserve” = good, “cheating on the other guy’s behalf so he gets away with something for which he deserves to be punished or gets something good he doesn’t otherwise deserve” = bad. And remember, anything that occurs in court that results in the unjust, wrong-from-my-perspective outcome must be the result of cheating, since otherwise, the courts would produce nothing but pure, unadulterated justice flowing like milk and tasting like honey. These cultural perspective result in a society that simultaneously reviles attorneys at every opportunity, and yet hires them at every turn.

]]> By: Dan Hull http://blog.bennettandbennett.com/2010/03/what-is-the-code-for-lawyer.html/comment-page-1#comment-13636 Dan Hull Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:28:11 +0000 http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2010/03/what-is-the-code-for-lawyer.html#comment-13636 "(I want to hear from Dan Hull on this. If the practice of law is all about clients, if the client is the main event, isn’t the crappy lawyer with ecstatic clients doing her job?)" Answer: No. Clients are the "main event", sure--but only very good to great clients are even addressed by our blog. My 2 cents dumb downed a little. Client service is NEVER about: 1. Being nice to clients, even to smart ones. 2. Making them happy if they are clueless or unsophisticated. It's a bit narrow, I know, but What About Clients/Paris? IS about the art of making corporate clients safe (competence) and happy (they come back to you even though they have choices). Both the lawyers and clients in the criminal defense--I have done more of it than most corporate lawyers so I get some things--are in a different universe. More important rights and considerations are involved, including court appointed gigs. It is a higher art form; lawyer competence is always important and client "happiness" may not be so important. Just to be honest and clear, my blog and my firm are not interested in "most" clients. Most clients--individuals or companies--are a miserable pain in the ass and are beneath everyone reading this. Life is too short. We like non-wanker and non-chickenshit GCs who work for good companies that know where they are headed. Everyone else? We hope they make it. But don't call us. We work to hard. “(I want to hear from Dan Hull on this. If the practice of law is all about clients, if the client is the main event, isn’t the crappy lawyer with ecstatic clients doing her job?)”

Answer: No. Clients are the “main event”, sure–but only very good to great clients are even addressed by our blog. My 2 cents dumb downed a little.

Client service is NEVER about:

1. Being nice to clients, even to smart ones.

2. Making them happy if they are clueless or unsophisticated.

It’s a bit narrow, I know, but What About Clients/Paris? IS about the art of making corporate clients safe (competence) and happy (they come back to you even though they have choices).

Both the lawyers and clients in the criminal defense–I have done more of it than most corporate lawyers so I get some things–are in a different universe. More important rights and considerations are involved, including court appointed gigs. It is a higher art form; lawyer competence is always important and client “happiness” may not be so important.

Just to be honest and clear, my blog and my firm are not interested in “most” clients. Most clients–individuals or companies–are a miserable pain in the ass and are beneath everyone reading this.

Life is too short. We like non-wanker and non-chickenshit GCs who work for good companies that know where they are headed. Everyone else? We hope they make it. But don’t call us. We work to hard.

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