Job v. Responsibility: A Lawyer’s First (and most difficult?) Challenge

No Funny Lawyers is pleased to present, as promised here, guest contributor Carolyn Black. Carolyn, aka “Red,” is entering the University of Colorado at Boulder Law School. How lawyers can (and should) be better advisors to human-owned businesses is one of this blog's focuses. The journey from law student to lawyer is certainly relevant to that concern and Red will describe it for us from time-to-time. ♦

The reading has begun in preparation for the start of law school in two weeks. One assignment down, and just a few more thousands (millions?) of pages to go before I can call myself a lawyer (ahem, assuming all goes well with that little thing called the bar exam).

My summer reading assignment was to read the book Coal River by Michael Shnayerson. Coal River is a “real” book that has nothing directly to do with law school (unlike Scott Turow’s One L, which has since given me nightmares. The kind of nightmares where you show up to class in your birthday suit AND you’re unprepared to do battle the Socratic method way, and your absolute sole concern is that the professor is going to call on you. A hearty thank you to all who recommended reading this book before starting school.).

In any case, the purpose for reading Coal River is thus: what will be our responsibilities as lawyers? (Be nice, people.) This will be a topic of discussion at orientation, which starts next week.

I won’t get too much into the actual subject matter of the book, other than to say it’s a true story of coal mining in Appalachia (predominantly West Virginia) and the ramifications, particularly the legal battles, which arise. I do want to say, however, that while I recognize that at first glance it may be easy to dismiss this book as stereotypical Boulder fare – the virtuous left-wing tree huggers versus Big Bad Business – it is not. Coal River is significantly more complex and thought-provoking than that.

The surface answer to the question of what lawyers need to do comes across in Chapter 16. Joe Lovett is an environmental attorney who has been representing various Appalachian residents against a large coal company, as well as the federal government. Regarding Lovett, “[h]e wanted to be effective as he could, but his ultimate goal wasn’t to change the world, it was just to do the right thing.”

It’s easy then. As a future lawyer, all I have to do is the right thing. Only “the right thing” is pretty open to interpretation. Just because an action is legal rather than illegal doesn’t necessarily make it right – and that’s where I imagine the balancing act of being a lawyer comes in. While it may be a lawyer’s JOB to protect the best interests of his/her clients, it’s a lawyer’s RESPONSIBILITY to protect the best interests of his/her clients while still being able to sleep at night. Perhaps I’m just completely naïve at this point, but I’d like to think that in the majority of cases, the job and the responsibility will coincide. And in those (hopefully) few cases where there’s a disconnect, well, I’m not sure any school can teach you what to do. That’s a personal decision you have to make for yourself. But we will see!

So, as I start my three-year journey, here is my answer: as a lawyer, it will be my responsibility to defend and preserve the interests of my client (and yes, I still have every intention of pursuing business law – from Coal River I’ve learned what NOT to do as a business lawyer) while still remaining a productive, good member of society at large. How I go about doing that will be a combination of what I learn in the next three years blended with my inherent values as a living, breathing member of society – that is to say, who I am as a person. (Yes, lawyers are people too. Regardless of what some people might say, I might even venture to say that some lawyers are funny people.)

I’m curious as to how I will answer this question in three years.