The Legal Profession: Is it Lawyer or ... Liar?

Last winter I spent a good portion of my break filling out a 20-some page registration packet for the Illinois State Bar Examiners attesting to my character and fitness to sit for the Bar. The only question that wasn’t on that application was whether I ordered chocolate or white milk at lunch in elementary school.

I thought this was somewhat ironic as a 2004 Gallup Poll ranked lawyers at the very bottom of professions with high ethical and honesty standards, with only 18 percent of the public giving lawyers a very high or high rating. Only car salesman and advertising practitioners ranked worse. Congressman, business executives, and newspaper reporters (so much for this article) didn’t do much better, only scoring a few percentage points more. But how could a profession that requires such extensive courses and inquiries into ethics and honesty score so low with the general public?

Some may say it’s the money that corrupts the profession, but doctors, who also receive a substantial salary for their services, score significantly higher with the general public, with a 67 percent rating. Even Judges who were all lawyers once have a much higher 53 percent rating. Nevertheless, many people find the words lawyer and liar synonymous, adding to the long-lived stereotype, that lawyers will do and say anything to win their case.

However, lying isn’t an option as anyone who has filled out a bar exam application knows. The majority of the questions in the application are more for the purpose of ascertaining honesty rather than for the substance of the answers themselves. Every year, law students around the country are summoned by the bar examiners of their respective states and prevented from the taking the Bar Exam because they either lied or did not disclose certain information on their application.

This high degree of disclosure and honesty is upheld throughout a lawyer’s career and lawyers are sanctioned on a regular basis for breaking strict ethical standards.