Donald Trump and the Honourable Lawyers
In the latest brimstone belch from Donald’s Bottomless Pit, we learned that some legal counsel are able to maintain their moral and professional compasses even when flying over the Bermuda Triangle of Trumpism. After the craven nuttiness of Giuliani, Barr, and Powell, it’s refreshing to see the impeachment defence team refuse to bend the knee to the Mighty Orange One. At least two, and perhaps five, of his legal team told His Nibs that they could no longer act for him. This time, chalk one up for the legal profession.
Now, let me be clear about one thing: everyone is entitled to a robust legal defence. This is important not only for the accused, but for the rest of us. Tyranny arises when the state can get away with pushing anyone around. So, yes, Trump, as abhorrent as he may be, is entitled to the very best defence team he can find. But when it comes to a client who wants to tell the lawyer how to run the case, that’s a different matter. No lawyer should be required to abide by that.
As nearly as we can tell, the resignation of the team members came about for a reason which is all too familiar to lawyers everywhere: a high octane client trying to tell the lawyers how to conduct the case. Anyone who has practiced for even a month knows exactly how this plays out: early in the case, the client tells you what the facts are, what the law is, and exactly what theory of the case he wants you to follow.
In other words, you will simply be a cardboard cutout from behind which the client’s self-genius will speak.
The problem is not the system, it’s the Donald. With this impeachment team, he insisted that the theory of the defence be that the election was fraudulent. His lawyers knew this was nuts as a tactic because it would be shot to shreds on the first day. It’s neither a practical nor a valid defence to the charges. Trump wouldn’t back down, so the lawyers quit. Good for them.
(Parenthetically, it may well be that Trump actually believes this stuff. Acting for delusional clients is always difficult, but the boundary is crossed when you choose to enter into their fantasy.)
No professional should act for clients who want them to practice outside the lines. Accountants can’t act for those who want them to diddle their tax returns, a doctor can’t hand out drugs to anyone who asks for them, nor can an engineer obey a client who wants the concrete watered down to save money. Even the Oldest Profession has its boundaries.
The principle that you cannot let a client dictate your professional procedure is universal, and there are at least ten reasons:
1. Unruly clients always want you to skate on thin ice. If somebody falls through and drowns, it will be you, not them.
2. You’ve got so much invested in your credentials that you’d be a fool to risk them.
3. Your personal dignity and reputation will suffer. If you sleep with a skunk, you’ll soon smell like a skunk.
4. Your profession’s dignity and reputation will suffer. In this case, Q is right: WWG1WGA.
5. When we let down the standards, we are also lowering the barriers to entry to the profession and opening it up for unqualified and unscrupulous competition.
6. Clients who want you to play outside the rules are going to treat you outside the rules. They will chew you up, and when they’re done with you, they’ll spit you out. And of course they won’t pay you.
7. These people are entirely self-absorbed. They will suck up all your time without a hint of gratitude, they will call you at all hours of the night and weekends, they will abuse your support staff, and they will go wild when you send them a bill. In the meantime, you won’t have time or energy left for all your good clients, so you will lose them.
8. When things spin out of control, this client will point at you and say it was all your idea. And the public and your professional discipline board will believe him, not you.
9. These people are like stray cats. Feed one, and there will soon be a whole pack of them on your back porch.
10. Your legacy. When you come to the end of your professional days, you’ll want honourable and satisfying memories, not shady and embarrassing ones.
I could go on, but you get the picture. So this is why I’m so glad that Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, and probably several others, have refused to be co-pilots on Trump’s kamikaze plane. Not only were they honourable, they were smart.