Guest post by Michael Ariens:
This is the fifth and final post related to the idea that American lawyers have a duty to representing unpopular clients, for the sake of both those clients and in the interests of a public that despises those clients. These stories come from my book, The Lawyer’s Conscience: A History of American Lawyer Ethics (2023).
In a sympathetic 1970 magazine portrait of lawyer William Kunstler, he declared, “I am not a lawyer for hire. I only defend those I love.” The editors of the ABA Journal opined that Kunstler’s position was “anti-professional.” The profession’s “ideal is to provide competent counsel for any person with a legitimate cause.” A lawyer’s decision to represent the unpopular client to the best of the lawyer’s ability was “a badge of honor,” as it demonstrated independence from the community which the lawyer served. This independence from the passions of the community demonstrated lawyers served as “guardians of the law” who “play a vital role in the preservation of society.” Representing only those one loved tied the lawyer to the views and values of one’s client, a position lawyers traditionally rejected.
The editorial received mixed reviews from lawyers, a number of which were published in letters to the editor. Some argued that the profession’s ideal was largely rejected in everyday practice. This was due in significant part to the focus of lawyers on monetary rewards rather than concern about “the public good.” Others embraced the ideal.
This division among lawyers was partly a result of one’s interpretation of recent historical events. Not long after the crisis of representing the unpopular client during the Second Red Scare dissipated, a similar crisis arose in finding lawyers to represent those arrested for pressing issues of civil rights, particularly in southern states. A 1961 report of an ABA committee hostile to the civil rights movement acknowledged, “persons under criminal charges in certain sections of the South have been deprived of their right to effective counsel because of the refusal of lawyers of the Caucasian [sic] race to appear in the defense of colored [sic] defendants.” In June 1963, President John F. Kennedy hosted a gathering of a number of lawyers regarding this problem. The result of this meeting was the creation of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law.
The creation of the Lawyers’ Committee had no effect on the inability of civil rights proponents to find lawyers to represent them in Mississippi in 1963. Hundreds unsuccessfully sought lawyers in order to vindicate their first amendment rights; all “local lawyers refused to represent black activists.” Local lawyers refused to defend the unpopular client because they feared for the physical safety of themselves and their families, as well as economic ruin.
Continue reading "Lawyers, Zeal, and the Unpopular Client (Part V) " »
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