First, We bar all the Lawyers

By Conrad Black

February 1, 2014

Conrad Black makes a serious point with his trademark wit

While I did not wish to practise, essentially because I did not wish to work for others but rather for myself and for my own account, I care for the law, and despite what I am saying about the legal and other professions, I think that society functions well, given that it is run by people In the intervening years, I have engaged a very large number of lawyers, including many of the best known and most capable lawyers in this country, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia With that said, precisely the motive that caused me not to practise law, I think, afflicts many people who do: They resent the client, and specifically resent the fact that though the law is one of the premier learned professions, it exacts its income from clients who, for the most part, lawyers do not regard as their intellectual peers This is a scandalous state of affairs; many lawyers are concerned, but where is the professional outrage? And where was the Supreme Court when the Bill of Rights was put to the shredder? Simply stated, a great many lawyers extract their livelihood purporting to follow instructions from people they do not intellectually respect The blindfolded lady holding the scales of justice, the truisms we were all brought up with about one's day in court and all of us being equal before the law, of what is legitimate and not just what is necessary, and what is morally right and socially best, and has to be obeyed — it is what distinguishes civilized human society from barbarism, lower orders of animals and the jungle Less fortunate people are ground to powder when the legal system and the media crucify them

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