That is what I see myself as. That doesn’t make me any different really. Far from it. I know many leaned friends who hold that same confession. They sleep and wake up with the problems of their clients in mind. When injustice happens, they mourn inwardly even as they put up brave faces on the outside. Half the time they get paid for doing what they do. The balance of the time, their services are rendered gratuitously. They carry the troubles of their society on their backs for little or no reward. Some get overtaken by kindness and suffer professional ruin.
I would hazard a guess. Lawyers would compare favorably with any profession that professes leadership in corporate social responsibility. Of this, I have no doubt. Except, we are hardly ever acknowledged and hardly ever ask for it. The judge never knows when we are arguing the case before him pro bono. They often know, when we are doing cases pro deo. The public never know either. It is just another day in court. It is just another day in the life of a lawyer. I say to my friends that lawyering is the only profession for which slavery has been retained as legal. The Legal Practitioners Act obliges lawyers to do pro deo and pro bono work. Now, that is obviously unconstitutional. But I have heard no lawyer complain. Neither do I. Try put that in the Employment Act.
