By Faye A. Silas

Fax machines and the Internet weren’t part of the office lexicon. Work was more manageable; caseloads were lighter, clients more respectful. In the media, Perry Mason was the quintessential example of an honorable, trustworthy, statesman-like lawyer.

Today, things are quite different, she says. The media image of lawyers is one of people that will do or say anything to win. Surveys report that the public doesn’t think lawyers are trustworthy or honest. Despite the important work lawyers perform, the public doesn’t share the positive impression about the profession. 

“We believe the problem of lying and misrepresentation must be addressed . . . . (otherwise it will do) serious harm to the American justice system.”

- Roberta Katz

“Lawyers are viewed as slick-talking hypocrites,” Katz told members of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. Clients expect their lawyers to do whatever it takes to win a case and lawyers who win get the clients, she says. Although most lawyers are honest, hardworking professionals, “perception is reality.” That’s why these negative perceptions must be addressed by the legal profession, concludes Katz, who wrote the book, Justice Matters: Rescuing the Legal System for the 21st Century, which calls for changes in the civil justice system. 

“Bar leaders are put in the role of defending the profession. We believe the problem of lying and misrepresentation must be addressed . . . . (otherwise it will do) serious harm to the American justice system,” she remarks.

Katz, from San Francisco, is a member of the NCBP Professional Reform Initiative (PRI), a project whose mission is “to increase public trust and confidence in the justice system and maintain the relevance of the legal profession in that system by promoting and nurturing effective professional reform.” The issue of truthfulness is the project’s first initiative.

“Our culture, in general, has become more accepting of dishonesty. We’re not as truthful as we used to be. That’s where  harm is done,” she says, adding that lying and misrepresentation undermine the justice system and lawyers must work harder to ensure truth. 

The adversarial system is based on rules of evidence, discovery, cross-examination. In cross-examination, there is a presumption that the opposing side is lying to promote the client’s interests, and this trial technique gives each counsel the opportunity to identify the truth.

Katz acknowledges that the legal profession must take a closer look at itself, but she fears that public relations efforts aimed at addressing the issue may be ineffective. “I fear our credibility has been called into question, and that a public relations effort may backfire,” she remarks. 

Professional reform initiative

This concern led to the development of the NCBP PRI, which is designed to address the decline of public trust and to enlist bar associations to lead plans that improve the public’s confidence in the profession over the long term. Truthfulness is a vital core value, and it will promote greater respect for and appreciation of the justice system and the legal profession, according to NCBP material.

The initiative’s “action plan” calls for motivating and providing resources to individual lawyers, bar associations and judges; proposing institutional changes; and encouraging development and exchange of related programs. 

The project will incorporate:

• A multi-media CLE presentation.
• Presentations of the PRI to state, metropolitan and local bars.
• Proposed rules to state Supreme Courts that call for a model oath of office and rule changes that focus on the need for truthfulness. 
• Related outreach programs for lawyers, law schools and judges. 

NCBP has encouraged bars to establish PRI task forces that involve law schools and the judiciary. Over the long term, the initiative will propose rule changes to the ABA Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Ethics 2000) that call for expanding current rules that deal with truthfulness and honesty. The proposed rules state: “a lawyer must always tell the truth in his or her professional dealings; and a lawyer must never intentionally mislead by act or omission in his or her professional dealings.”

Other long-term goals call for disciplinary enforcement of acts of dishonesty, fraud and misrepresentation; and a model oath that emphasizes the lawyer’s duty to be truthful.

The author is the editor of Bar Leader.