Few things irritate me more than the lazy accusation that some legal outcome happened because of “lefty lawyers”—especially when that accusation comes from a politician.
For most of my 45 years, Conservative politicians have made the laws that govern my life. And they’re the ones who shout the loudest about “lefty lawyers” when those laws don’t go “their way”.
Lawyers apply the laws written and enacted by politicians. Until AI lawyers take over, human lawyers remain essential to upholding the rule of law. Democracies don’t function without lawyers. We’re the oil in the system.
Sure, some lawyers lean left and enjoy taking on the state. But their only tool is the law itself—the same laws enacted by the people and for the people. And what about right-wing lawyers? They exist too—mostly acting for corporations. Yet when a major corporate scandal breaks, nobody screams about “right-wing lawyers” helping shady businesses get away with it. Funny, that. It’s only when lawyers challenge the state—often on behalf of the vulnerable—that suddenly, lawyers become the enemy.
Imagine if, before every case, and at every stage throughout a case, a lawyer has to ask themselves: “Is this a lefty law? If so, should I refuse to use it?” Any lawyer who made legal decisions based on dubious political bias of an often ancient law would be struck off and sued for professional negligence in record time.
If politicians don’t like legal outcomes, they have a solution: change the law. And if you’re not a politician and don’t like a law, campaign to change it. But blaming lawyers for using the system that politicians created? That’s just dumb.
