Nice Guys (even nice attorneys) Don’t Finish Last!

Yesterday, when I was in Court one of the court attendant’s joked “the sharks have arrived”; he was referring to all the attorneys that had just entered the courtroom. “But aren’t attorneys human beings too”, I responded. He laughed and shrugged his shoulders in response to my comment. Obviously, the public’s view of attorneys is not always a positive one; lawyers make money benefiting from people’s problems.

When I hear someone say “everyone hates lawyers”, I remind the speaker, “while everyone hates lawyers, they love their lawyer.” Lawyers are people too and, while there are certainly exceptions, I have found that the “good lawyers” are generally concerned caring individuals who practice law because they have a sincere desire to help those in need, to empower the powerless, and to, dare I say, make peace whenever possible. The “good lawyers” find solutions and resolve problems on behalf of their clients; they do not create problems and/or seek to increase legal fees for their own benefit; they actually practice law because they’re good people who want to make a difference. I’ve also found that it is the nice lawyers; the lawyers who are grateful for their station in life and who do not need to be “right rather than kind” who end up, perhaps ironically, being the more effective advocates for their clients. “You get more with honey than vinegar” is so true in the legal profession. Nice guys do not, it is here submitted, finish last; emotionally intelligent lawyers with firm convictions and integrity actually finish first.

While they fight when necessary, they value their clients time and money and, as such, seek to “get it done” without undue costs and acrimony. That’s the way we practice law at Davis & Mendelson; and our clients, fellow members of the bar and judiciary certainly seem to appreciate and reward this approach.