Document Type
Article
Abstract
There is not very much to criticize in what Professor Pearce has said about the MacCrate Report. Mostly, therefore, I will just amplify some of the points that I regard as among the most important. Before that, however, I want to mention some quibbles. First, I have always been bothered a bit when people describe the lawyer's role as that of a hired gun. The term “hired gun” is (if you'll pardon the expression) loaded. It does not, moreover, correctly capture either the good or the questionable of what lawyers actually try to do when representing their clients. Real hired guns are, by definition, persons willing to do violence to the law, or at least to do violence. A willingness to do violence or to break the law is not, however, characteristic of lawyers. On the contrary, lawyers almost uniformly see their role as seeking to obtain their clients' goals within the boundaries set by the law, and lawyers certainly do not typically see themselves as open to doing violent acts.
Recommended Citation
John A. Humbach, A Response to Russell Pearce by John Humbach, 23 Pace L. Rev. 599 (2003), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/87/.