Lawyers and Liars: Mere Coincidence they Sound Alike?

If lawyers are liars, we will never know the truth whether lawyers are liars, right? All (bad) lawyer jokes aside, this question is an interesting one.

I have worked with thousands of lawyers and I have seen my fair share of egotistical, maniacal, arrogant, pathetic sharks. I have been the brunt of an opposing counsel’s ridicule and juvenile name calling across a deposition table and the echoing halls of justice. I have taken other lawyers at their word on many occasions only to watch with disappointment as they renege on their handshake commitments. I’ve witnessed a lawyer drive up to my office in a $150,000 Mercedes Benz and later saw an unemployment statement fall out of her Prada briefcase. I have seen lawyers outright lie in declarations signed under penalty of perjury. The list goes on and on … perhaps a different blog topic.

These experiences lean towards there being no coincidence that the words “lawyer” and “liar” sound alike. Stop traffic, though. Allow me to restore justice to the title of “honest lawyer” (that is, the one pronounced “loy•yer”).

The honest lawyer may not be the first name returned on your Google search and, yes, it may take some time for you to find the honest lawyer – but you will know it when you do. Common side effects of the honest lawyer include, but are not limited to: looking you in the eye, firm handshakes, regular return phone calls, honest initial consultations where you are told you do not have a case if you really don’t, regular status updates, no charges for occasional phone calls and emails, reduction of fees, use of the words “thank you very much” and “it is my pleasure to work for you,” lending of an empathetic ear or shoulder when times are tough, sending emails at all hours of the night, remembering dates that are important to you and calling you to check up or sending you directions to ensure you are not lost or late to appointments.

But the most tell-tale sign of the honest attorney is the passion you hear in the honest attorney’s voice when the honest attorney talks to you about your case. It’s palpable and simultaneously relentless as if your case is the only case the honest attorney is working on. You actually have to be the one to get the honest attorney off the phone instead of vice versa.

Just keep swimming, you will find your very own honest attorney that will make the similar sound of the words “lawyer” and “liar” a mere anomaly.