I’m not asking about the ethics of lying, or whether lawyers may be justified in lying. That is beside the point. I am just asking: hypothetically, would it be possible for a lawyer to have a successful career while never uttering so much as a white lie?
Like, let’s say the lawyer had some sort of spell cast on them, so they could never lie. If someone were to ask them a question, they’d either need to find a way to avoid answering or answer honestly. Would it be possible for a lawyer in such circumstances to still go on and have a successful career?
No because even avoiding answering can be a lie. A lie of omission.
The key being that you are hiding some detail or information in an attempt to deceive, that is what makes it a lie.
Obviously it depends on what is meant by a lie.
I would respond that it’s almost impossible to thrive in any sort of human society that has ever existed in history without telling even the faintest hint of a white lie sometimes. I don’t think it’s realistically possible to be a successful human, nevermind a lawyer. Everyone thinks they’re being completely honest all the time, until you spend some years having a bunch of philosophers pick apart the entire basis of the reality you think you’re not lying to yourself or anyone else about, then once you’re done figuring out what reality actually is, you might have a totally different idea of what lying even means. But you’ll never get there, because you’ll never actually figure out what reality even is, nobody comes out the other side of existential philosophy. This isn’t new stuff, the ancient Greeks were struggling with it thousands of years ago, and we only know that because they were among the first who bothered to write it all down.
I love the trope of lawyers being evil. They are typically held to some pretty tight requirements for ethics. Engineers on the other hand are given a free pass but are responsible for a significant number of humanities worst crimes against both itself and the environment.
Not all lawyers are trial lawyers. There are lots of things you can do helping people with paperwork of various kinds. EoL planing and incorporating businesses, for 2 examples off the top of my head.
Define lie.
Deceit through misinformation or hiding information.
If omitting information is a lie, then no, you can’t be a successful lawyer without that.
Your job is to help your client. Informing the opposition of something they missed and that would help their case hurts your client who pays and relies on you.
But then you can’t be a successful business owner, politician, Union rep or even parent without lying either. Unlimited honesty and transparency isn’t really something society values.I would argue that hiding information is not always lying.
There are lies of omission, but it depends on if you are asked about the things you are omitting or not.
And even if you are, it is possible to steer the conversation away from the thing without actually telling a lie.
Politicians do it all of the time.
Found the successful lawyer.
Lawyers don’t lie. They massage the truth.
“Due to my ethical obligations to my client, I am unable to answer that question. If your honor insists on an answer, I will need to withdraw.”
You will lose out on a lot of money though. Remember that there are two sides to every story, and it’s not the lawyer’s job to judge what the truth is. The lawyer advocates. The judge and jury decide.
I work with lawyers and I have to say lawyers are by and far either the most or least ethical people you have ever met.
And success is not determined by your ethics as a lawyer.
The best lawyers find the points of the truth that are the most salient to their case and push those.
Someone just watched Liar Liar.
Nope
