Ian McDougall on the dangers of blurred lines between counsel & cause
- Conflating lawyers with the clients or causes they represent poses a serious threat to the rule of law.
- Lawyers must maintain clear boundaries between professional advocacy and personal activism, and society must also respect their independence.
In recent years, a troubling trend has emerged. The conflation of lawyers with the causes or clients they represent represents a clear and present danger to the legal profession and to the ability of people to get representation. From human rights defenders to corporate attorneys, legal professionals increasingly find themselves judged not by the quality of their advocacy or the integrity of their practice, but by the perceived morality of their clients. This troubling development is very confusing. I ‘grew up’ in a legal world where it was a source of professional pride to represent someone whose cause you did not agree with or whose morality you found objectionable. It was, traditionally, the highest form of a lawyer’s contribution to society, the justice system and the rule of law. But this
