It is really discouraging, after practicing law for over 40 years, to watch Common Law abandoned and distorted, replaced by Civil Law under the Napoleonic code, combined with the alleged specialization of lawyers. I believe with the myth of specialization, there has been a corresponding decline in ethics, civility, and respect for the law and for lawyers. We lawyers have turned law and the courts into an assembly line which processes cases and people the same way cattle are processed at Montfort Meat Co. Very few lawyers today reflect either upon their profession or upon their conduct. They appeared to be too busy cranking out billable hours and sucking money from whatever source they can in any manner available.
Many of you may find it hard to remember, but it hasn’t always been this way. Things changed after Viet Nam and the threatened impeachment of Richard Nixon. Politicos with law degrees got as nervous as whores in church because many of the Nixon criminals had law degrees, although most didn’t practice. The ethos changed with the Hill and Knowlton crowd playing at governance. Fact was replaced by propaganda and politics became viewed as a game. Prostitution became virtually extinct in Washington because the politicians were prostituting for less money and putting out more. Most of us felt a duty to both our clients and to society. That attitude didn’t come out of the civil rights movement but existed prior. It was from the centuries old development of lawyers.
Open government was the agreed upon goal of the people. Reigning in predators was the shared goal of both citizen and official. Consumerism, civil rights, crime reform, fighting poverty, and co-existence were professed goals of the young moderns. Libertarianism didn’t exist, Ayn Rand was ridiculed, greedy selfish businessmen were to be shunned. Of course, the privileged rulers fought back. They backed propaganda TV shows, bought the media outlets, and lobbied for conservative ideology. However, with the radical views and outrageous conduct of the John Birch Society, most people didn’t concern themselves with Mussolini like ideas or plans. But mainly we had common law. We shared common language, common customs, mores, folkways, and taboos. We all learned English and mastered the archaic Latin terms. We were taught law as a methodology, not as a body of knowledge. Laws changed with every meeting of legislators or appellate courts, whereas “The Law” didn’t. Law was the embodiment of our society.
But, globalization was upon us. Large corporations chafed at having to comply with various laws, rules and regulations in various countries. They wanted simplicity. They also wanted cheap. They wanted opinions and written rules, not speculation as to meaning. They wanted a totalitarian construction of things, not a social construction of things. All that was involved was reading rules and drafting things. It was simple, in their minds, just like repealing a health care law. Nothing to it. Courts? Who needs them. They interfere with efficiency. Instead of teaching the citizens how to govern themselves, the masters taught them to worship the rich merciless business and eschew taxes. Taxes were the enemy, not greed and avarice.
Thus, a new generation of lawyers. Steeped in the desire for money, no concept of justice, lacking in intellect and curiosity, indoctrinated to management by objectives, sight was lost of the function of law and Government. Government was evil, business was good, no matter how many wars were started, no matter how many innocents killed, we were efficient. So, as the richest, most powerful nation in the world, we cheer when the greedy rich screw the poor, making them starve, lose their health and homes, convinced that they could compete on any terms with a large bureaucratic entity. And, they were convinced to destroy their safety nets before they discovered the truth.
So, like Eloi of Well’s time machine, the public happily wanders about until they are summoned by their underground masters to be chopped up for food for the Morlocks, who have hidden out under the surface for generations, making the planet work. Eloi are blind to the fact that they only exist for the benefit of the Morlocks.
When lawyers practiced law, rather than administer regulations, there was a semblance of fairness. We were trained for a greater good. Opinion letters could not be purchased like brothel whores to write anything the masters wanted and ignoring their education. In criminal law, most initial decisions are made by police officers, not policymakers. The lawyers are too ignorant or fearful to counteract or advise the police. Most young lawyers are young, right out of the country club. Taught to get along, and arrogant in their privilege.
When I first started, there were no professional prosecutors. There were lawyers. I remember discussing many cases with prosecutors where they actually cared about police abuse and crime. Prosecutors too were lawyers, charged with looking after their clientele, not crime victims. If a situation were pointed out to them that might expose their jurisdiction, they would recognize and try to do something about it. They could call the county or city attorneys and set up a conference. They could recommend grand jury action. They could ignore the situation. In any event, any deal tried to limit the exposure of liability to the people (taxpayers).
It is entirely different today. With specialization, law administrators are taught to ignore social policy issues as well as liability. “So what if the city or the cop gets sued?” They don’t care. Or they realize how hard is to sue in the current court structure and can cynically ignore justice for the greater good of conviction. Look at how much is paid out in civil rights and brutality claims. Chicago paid over $500 MILLION DOLLARS (500,000,000) in the period between 2004 and 2014. Meanwhile, the City is going to hell in a handbasket. Prosecutors blithely back up the officers, no matter how corrupt. Or the proceed in blissful ignorant, unaware of the lawyer’s obligations. Then, after they have been employed and hardened in a prosecutor’s office, they are turned into a judge, with no inkling what a judge should do other than convicting criminals and moving cases at the speed of light without any thought or soul.
Well, I am tired of the big con. Lawyers who ignore the big picture and subject the citizens to a lawsuit for police misconduct should themselves be prosecuted or disbarred. Like the barons of England demanded, we should demand that our judges are learned in the law, not experts in expediency and procedure. No, like healthcare, law isn’t simple. It is not a body of knowledge, it is a way of analysis and life. WAKE UP, CITIZENS. DON’T ACCEPT THIS KIND OF ABUSE AND DECEPTION. SPEAK!!
