01/07/2020
"MUSTA ATTY?"
Two words that triggered a very long thread... Maybe, it's the CASUAL DEVALUATION of the legal profession that really gets a lawyer's goat. Or, maybe it's the way people only checks in with lawyers when they need something - and usually want to get it for free. Or wants to sell them something. Or worst, want to borrow money from them.
People forget that lawyers are a product of a very long academic (and continuing through MCLE) journey and are passers of the toughest civil service exam in the country. They carry too the heavy bundle of obligations to client, to courts, to profession, and to the public. Their personal life is also regulated through their professional life.
Sadly, some people think it's okay to intentionally not pay a lawyer for their service. It's not okay, because it goes against the spirit of fairness - lawyers pay for everything themselves, in some cases, even with a premium (people expect to be paid more when they know the customer is a lawyer). Even sadder, it is the newer lawyers who fall victim to this wrong notion.