The Perception of Lawyer Image among the Public - Essay Example

Legal Ethics Introduction: Media images propagated on film and TV have projected an image of lawyers as unprofessional, unethical people resulting in a corresponding deterioration in the perception of lawyer image among the public. Such negative perceptions also have an adverse impact on law students who are entering the profession to enrich themselves rather than to serve the cause of justice. Part of the problem appears to lie in the client centered approach, which results in the sacrifice of public morality and justice and therefore, there appears to be a need to refine the ethical standards set for lawyers by the Government. The deteriorating image of lawyers: A Morgan poll conducted in Australia showed that the public has a poor opinion of lawyers1 which has been deteriorating over the years, findings which replicated those of the American Harris Poll conducted in 1997, showing a deterioration in the perception of lawyer prestige from 36% in 1977 to 18% in 1997.2 The movies portray lawyers in an adversarial, litigating role at trial courts, especially in the case of women lawyers.3 This highlights the aggressive and confrontational role of lawyers and enhances this image in the public mind. Graham and Maschio have pointed out how the conventions of movies interact with the conventions of law4. Through a particular depiction of various categories of lawyers in films, such as female or gay lawyers, the general image of such lawyers may be distorted among members of the public. The silver screen images and lawyer ethics: Rapoport has pointed out how the public images of lawyers as revealed on the silver screen could also affect the manner in which lawyers view ethical dilemmas and make ethical choices, with law students being particularly susceptible to such images.5 The notion of professional and ethical responsibility of lawyers is being increasingly undermined by the screen images and Ross and MacFarlane have highlighted evidence which suggests that students “do not take the courses in professional responsibility seriously.”6 In general, students take up courses in law for the purpose of better earnings, rather than being motivated by the desire to practice law in an ethical manner7. Moreover, films tend to portray lawyers as bad characters who conduct themselves in an unprofessional manner, which undermines the confidence of the public and also affects the perceptions of new emerging lawyers. Negative lawyer portrayals: Asimov provides several examples of such negative portrayals of lawyers in films– for example, the character of arrogant and rude lawyer Martin Vale in the film “Primal fear”, or the drug abusing character of Dave Kleinfeld in “Carlito’s Way.”8 The character of lawyer Ned Racine in “Body heat” is outright an unethical person who does not care about his clients or maintaining professional codes of conduct. One of the most significant films in this area is “The Devil’s Advocate” in which the devil himself is shown to be using lawyers as his medium to do his dirty work in the world, thereby creating a direct impression in the public mind that being a lawyer is in fact, equivalent to doing the devil’s work. Rapoport has also pointed out that despite the existence of good portrayals of lawyers in films, the negative images are more overpowering9. Images on television vs Images in movies: Images of lawyers in television may differ from those portrayed in the movies. In regard to television programs, sponsors are often keen that members of the public should identity closely with the characters on screen and that they should be portrayed in a sympathetic manner, in order to grab viewer ship, hence the image of lawyers is more favorable.10 Moreover, as Gitlin has also pointed out, television shows need to bring back the same characters repeatedly in a series, mandates the need to present them in a favorable light, whereas films can introduce tragedy or unsympathetic characters without the need to adhere to such conventions.11 Thus the portrayal of lawyers in films is in a negative vein, while in TV films, the characterization is more positive. The client centered approach: The conflict that arises lies in the client centered practice approach to the legal profession. The focus remains on ensuring that the client’s interests are served, often at the expense of actual justice and truth, and the good of society.12 The Law Council of Australia has set out model rules for professional conduct for lawyers.13 These rules only reinforces the notion of the legal profession as being centered around the client and the epitome of a lawyer’s duty being the serving of the client’s interests. While such an approach may be seen to be very favorable form the point of view of the client, Warrerstrom has criticized the approach as focusing exclusively on the client’s problems to the detriment of justice, truth and the general good of society. He offers the view that such a client centered focus results in lawyers acting in an immoral way and being indifferent to the morality of the law or the need to maintain ethical standards in the practice of law.14 As a result, from a professional standpoint, there may be a lapse in lawyer conduct and a detriment to society in general. The issues of professional misconduct or unprofessional conduct were also at issue in the cases of Hoffman v Musk15 and Arthur Anderson and Co v Email Furniture Pty Ltd.16 Such conduct could also involve activities taking place outside the practice of law, which could pose problems from an ethical standpoint.17 Such activities also occur in films, where lawyers in mafia films are portrayed as henchmen existing solely to provide legal cover for mafia activities. Asimov provides some examples, such as the character of Tom Hagen in the “Godfather” films and in the film “The Firm”, the entire bunch of lawyers is only functioning to promote the criminal activities of the mob and they are also prepared to kill when necessary18. While some earlier films such as To kill a mocking bird offered a positive portrayal of lawyers, films made after the 1970s have shown more negative stereotypes. This negative portrayal of lawyers in the media appears to have strengthened the negative perceptions of the public, since the surveys that were carried out19 clearly show that there has been a deterioration in public confidence in the professionalism of lawyers and they are more readily conceived of as indulging in illegal conduct. Asimov has concluded that the role models of lawyers in modern day films are bad, while earlier films did contain some portrayals of good lawyers. He offers the view that the message going out to young lawyers is that unprofessional hard ball conduct is rewarding and produces success, while ethical conduct may not. Therefore unprofessional conduct among lawyers is an unpleasant reality in today’s world and Asimov is of the view that it must be addressed. Rapoport also corroborates the view that the negative portrayal of lawyers in films impacts upon lawyer ethics, however, she views the real problems being the non availability of good lawyer role models in the media. Conclusion: Therefore, from the above, it appears that there has been a steady decline in public perception of lawyers and this may be directly linked to the increasingly negative portrayals of lawyers in films, where they are shown engaging in unprofessional conduct to favor the interests of their clients. The negative perception of lawyers in films and TV has also impacted upon lawyer ethics and the changing perceptions of lawyer students about the nature of the profession. This also suggests that there is a need to revise the client centered approach, so that new rules of professional conduct which are drawn could focus to a higher degree on ethical conduct for the good of not only the individual but also society. Bibliography * Asimov, Michael, 2000. “Bad lawyers in the Movies.” Nova Law Review , 24 (2).[online] available at: http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/nova/asimow24.htm * Gitlin, Todd, 1983. “Inside Prime Time” 64-67 * Graham and Maschio, Geraldine, 1996. “A false public Public Sentiment: Narrative and Visual Images of Women lawyers in Film” 84, Kentucky Law Journal 1027 at 1028-29, cited in Rapoport * Harris Poll #37, Aug. 11, 1997; cited IN Asimov, Michael, 2000. “Bad lawyers in the Movies.” Nova Law Review , 24 (2). * Klein, Diane, 1998. “Ally McBeal and her sisters: A quantitative and qualitative analysis of representations of women lawyers on prime time television.” at 270 cited in Asimov * Ross and MacFarlane: “Legal Education and Legal Ethics”, Casebook * Rapoport, Nancy B, 2000. “Dressed for excess: How Hollywood affects the professional behavior of lawyers.” Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy [online] * Shapiro, Carol, 1995. “Women lawyers in celluloid: Why Hollywood skirts the truth.” 25, Univ. Tol. Law Review, 955, 975-76. www.lawconcil.asn.au Summary of Assessment Paper 1 Summary: Polls that have been conducted among the public reveal the deteriorating perception of lawyers among the public, especially after the 1970s. The focus on the adversarial nature of the litigant system and the perception of lawyers as unduly aggressive, and there are perceptions created about particular classes of lawyers such as women or gays which may be unfair portrayals. Moreover, such a negative portrayal of lawyers in films also impacts upon students of law and young lawyers, who see unprofessional and overly aggressive conduct as contributing to success. The portrayal of lawyers in television serials is more positive as compared to films, since there is pressure from the sponsors to maintain a favorable perception among the public to enhance viewership. Although the Australian Law Council has established standards for professional conduct, these are primarily centered upon the furtherance of client interests. Warrerstrom and others have criticized this approach wherein lawyers are intent on promoting and safeguarding the interests of their clients even to the detriment of truth, justice and the general good of society. He argues that such an approach provides the motivation for lawyers to indulge in a range of unprofessional conduct which they normally would not do. The issues of unprofessional conduct of lawyers and/or misconduct of lawyers was also raised in cases such as Hoffman v Musk and Arthur Anderson and Co and E Mail Pty Ltd and the issue of ethical conduct from lawyers has become more important. Asimov has concluded that while earlier portrayals of lawyers in films were fairly good, later films made from the 70s have added to the negative perception of lawyers. Rapoport has also offered the view that although there are good images of lawyers available, especially in television programs, it is the lack of balance in the media images that is the source of the problem, since the negative images overwhelm the positive ones. Therefore, it may be concluded that there is a need to address the problems of unprofessional conduct and the declining frame of ethical conduct within the legal professional. While there appears to be a definite impact of negative media impact on public perception, it may be noted that there is also a negative effect upon the conduct of lawyers. Therefore it has become necessary to redefine and emphasize the ethical considerations that must be adhered to and to strike a better balance between client interests and the interests of society. Read More