Hostility towards the legal profession is a widespread phenomenon. For example, William Shakespeare famously wrote, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" in Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The legal profession was abolished in Prussia in 1780 and in France in 1789, though both countries eventually realized that their judicial systems could not function efficiently without lawyers.[159] Complaints about too many lawyers were common in both England and the United States in the 1840s,[160][161] Germany in the 1910s,[162] and in Australia,[163] Canada,[164] the United States,[165][166][167] and Scotland[168] in the 1980s.
Public distrust of lawyers reached record heights in the United States after the Watergate scandal.[167][169] In the aftermath of Watergate, legal self-help books became popular among those who wished to solve their legal problems without having to deal with lawyers.[170] Lawyer jokes (already a perennial favorite) also soared in popularity in English-speaking North America as a result of Watergate.[171] In 1989, American legal self-help publisher Nolo Press published a 171-page compilation of negative anecdotes about lawyers from throughout human history.[172]
In Adventures in Law and Justice (2003), legal researcher Bryan Horrigan dedicated a chapter to "Myths, Fictions, and Realities" about law and illustrated the perennial criticism of lawyers as "amoral [...] guns for hire"[173] with a quote from Ambrose Bierce's satirical The Devil's Dictionary (1911) that summarized the noun as: "LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law."[174]
More generally, in Legal Ethics: A Comparative Study (2004), law professor Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. with Angelo Dondi briefly examined the "regulations attempting to suppress lawyer misconduct" and noted that their similarity around the world was paralleled by a "remarkable consistency" in certain "persistent grievances" about lawyers that transcends both time and locale, from the Bible to medieval England to dynastic China.[175] The authors then generalized these common complaints about lawyers as being classified into five "general categories" as follows:
- abuse of litigation in various ways, including using dilatory tactics and false evidence and making frivolous arguments to the courts
- preparation of false documentation, such as false deeds, contracts, or wills
- deceiving clients and other persons and misappropriating property
- procrastination in dealings with clients
- charging excessive fees[176]
Some studies have shown that suicide rates among lawyers may be as much as six times higher than the average population, and commentators suggest that the low opinion the public has of lawyers, combined with their own high ideals of justice, which in practice they may see denied, increase the depression rates of those in this profession.[177][178] Additionally, lawyers are twice as likely to suffer from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.[179]
Compensation[edit]
In the United States, lawyers typically earn between $45,000 and $160,000 per year, although earnings vary by age, experience, and practice setting.[180][181][182][183] Solo practitioners typically earn less than lawyers in corporate law firms but more than those working for state or local government.
Lawyers are paid for their work in a variety of ways. In private practice, they may work for an hourly fee according to a billable hour structure,[184] a contingency fee[185] (usually in cases involving personal injury), or a lump sum payment if the matter is straightforward. Normally, most lawyers negotiate a written fee agreement up front and may require a non-refundable retainer in advance. Recent studies suggest that when lawyers charge a fixed-fee rather than billing by the hour, they work less hard on behalf of clients and client get worse outcomes.[186][187] In many countries there are fee-shifting arrangements by which the loser must pay the winner's fees and costs; the United States is the major exception,[188] although in turn, its legislators have carved out many exceptions to the so-called "American Rule" of no fee shifting.
Lawyers working directly on the payroll of governments, nonprofits, and corporations usually earn a regular annual salary.[189] In many countries, with the notable exception of Germany,[190] lawyers can also volunteer their labor in the service of worthy causes through an arrangement called pro bono (short for pro bono publico, "for the common good").[191] Traditionally such work was performed on behalf of the poor, but in some countries it has now expanded to many other causes such as the environment.
In some countries, there are legal aid lawyers who specialize in providing legal services to the indigent.[192][193] France and Spain even have formal fee structures by which lawyers are compensated by the government for legal aid cases on a per-case basis.[194] A similar system, though not as extensive or generous, operates in Australia, Canada, and South Africa.[195]
In other countries, legal aid specialists are practically nonexistent. This may be because non-lawyers are allowed to provide such services; in both Italy and Belgium, trade unions and political parties provide what can be characterized as legal aid services.[196] Some legal aid in Belgium is also provided by young lawyer apprentices subsidized by local bar associations (known as the pro deo system), as well as consumer protection nonprofit organizations and Public Assistance Agencies subsidized by local governments.[197] In Germany, mandatory fee structures have enabled widespread implementation of affordable legal expense insurance.[198]
