"I don't regret becoming a lawyer (yet)"

I don’t regret becoming a lawyer (yet), but the more I practice law the more discouraging it is to me.Being a lawyer or judge is often a thankless job, but that only means that it’s not a job for everyone, a job that only those strong enough to do it well should be doing (and quitting when not strong enough to do it well). Given the state of the legal profession now, being a judge or lawyer is clearly not a job that everyone who is currently a judge or lawyer should be doing.

In my view:

[1] The legal system is actually fairly well designed, but too often poorly administered, and knowingly so by those who are engaged in the poor administration;

[2] When the product and service lawyers and others in the legal system “sell” (i.e., produce or profess to produce) is justice, the market has the right to expect justice from its purveyors. But (and it took me 18 years or so to figure this out and then accept it) the legal profession is no different from every other profession and industry, in that it is home to far too many liars, cheats, and incompetents, and to far too much apathy, and self-interest. Because legal profession sell justice, however, the pain and misery that the liars, the cheats, incompetence, apathy and self-interest in the legal system cause is more acutely felt by the public;

[3] It is not just lawyers slouching toward Gomorrah. All judges and court commissioners were former lawyers, so it’s not as though they are particularly exceptional. The process of becoming (and staying) a judge is not primarily a meritocracy but often a matter of how well-connected one is; and

[4] Not all financially successful lawyers are cheats, but too many lawyers profit by exploiting others and the law.