You have probably by now read or heard about the Dignity in Law campaign recently launched by The Florida Bar under the leadership of new Bar president Tod Aronovitz. The goal of the campaign is to raise the public’s awareness of the good work that lawyers and judges do in our profession and in our communities. The campaign also hopes to combat many of the public’s misperceptions regarding lawyers, judges and our legal system. It is an important and ambitious project and worthy of our support.
In a recent survey by the American Bar Association, lawyers ranked eighth out of nine professions in public confidence. The survey participants also said that lawyers need to communicate with the public about lawyers’ public service and pro bono activities. It is very clear that even if we are doing a good job of serving our clients and our community, much of the public does not know or believe that is the case. We can not afford to believe that it is enough that we do a good job and that we need not be concerned with how the public perceives us or how we may be depicted in the media.
A negative public image of our profession adversely affects our ability to practice law and effectively represent our clients. Confidence and trust are the lifeblood of an effective attorney-client relationship. We cannot expect the public to seek the advice and counsel of a lawyer regarding matters important to them, their family or their business if the public does not have confidence and trust in our profession as a whole. We can not expect a productive and effective relationship between a lawyer and a client if the client does not have trust and confidence in that lawyer. A negative public image of our profession undermines that trust and confidence.
A negative public image of lawyers poses dangers to our society beyond the erosion of the relationship between an individual lawyer and client. We live in a day and age in which we find the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and many of the other underpinnings of our democracy under attack. I submit to you that we as lawyers, as we have so often done throughout our nation’s history, must lead the fight to protect and preserve these principles and institutions. We can not do that, however, without the support of the public. Improving our public image is vital to gaining and maintaining that support.
How do we improve the image of our profession? I believe that efforts like The Florida Bar’s Dignity in Law Campaign are a definite step in the right direction. We can not permit our public image to be characterized by the misdeeds of a very few lawyers whose actions seem to garner the lion’s share of attention by our profession’s detractors and the media but are in no way representative of the vast majority of lawyers who practice with great professionalism and serve their clients and their community well.
I agree with Terry Russell, the immediate past president of The Florida Bar, who said that the true image of our profession is not based upon the isolated failures of a few, but from a history of remarkable accomplishments like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and of extraordinary citizens like John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln. Our profession has a wonderful story to tell. We need to do a better job of telling that story.
We also must improve our public image one lawyer at a time. We each need to remain dedicated to practicing with professionalism, promoting the rule of law and the integrity of our legal system, providing pro bono services to those in need and doing all we can to earn and maintain the trust and confidence of our clients. It is also of utmost importance that we give generously of our time and talents to worthwhile charitable and civic causes in our community. Finally, we need to be proud of our profession and take the time to tell the public about the good things we do as lawyers for our system of justice and our fellow man.
If we all work together, we can improve the public image of our profession.