Commentary by Greg Bowes 12/09/2002
The Indianapolis Star reported on December 8, 2002, about a recent Harris Poll taken to determine which of a list of 20 different types of people could be trusted to tell the truth. The report said that "Toward the bottom of the trust category list were members of Congress, trade union leaders and lawyers." I am bothered by the public perception that lawyers cannot be trusted.
The actual Harris Poll report can be found at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=342. When asked, "Would you generally trust each of the following types of people to tell the truth, or not?", 65% of the 1,010 respondents said they would not trust lawyers. Only 24% said they would, while 11% were not sure or refused to answer. Teachers, doctors, professors, and police officers topped the list as being the most trustworthy.
What perplexes me is how my own experience with lawyers is so different from the public perception. I have been in the legal profession for over 17 years, and I have worked with hundreds of lawyers. I know most lawyers to go out of their way to be honest and fair. If a lawyer were to make a dishonest statement, most other lawyers would quickly spread the word, and some would even turn the dishonest lawyer's name over to the disciplinary commission.
There is a reason my experience has shown most lawyers to be scrupulously honest. We lawyers are required by our Rules of Professional Conduct to be honest. Rule 3.3, found at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/prof_conduct/index.html#r3_3, says lawyers must not lie to a court or judge, and if the lawyer later finds out s/he has presented false evidence, s/he must take steps to correct the problem. Rule 3.4, found at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/prof_conduct/index.html#r3_4, makes it a violation to "falsify evidence, counsel or assist a witness to testify falsely." Rule 4.1, found at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/prof_conduct/index.html#r4_1, states, "In the course of representing a client a lawyer shall not knowingly: (a) make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person; or (b) fail to disclose that which is required by law to be revealed." A lawyer who violates any of these rules risks having his license, and therefore his livelihood, taken away.
When one compares these strict rules to the rules governing the professions deemed by the public to be most trustworthy, it is astounding that lawyers are at the bottom of the list. Teachers can lose their licenses for immorality, misconduct in office, incompetency, or willful neglect of duty. See Ind. Code: 20-6.1-3-7, found at http://www.ai.org/legislative/ic/code/title20/ar6.1/ch3.html#IC20-6.1-3-7. Nowhere is there a specific requirement for teachers to be truthful.
Doctors can be sanctioned for committing fraud or for false advertising. See Ind. Code ? 25-1-9-4, found at http://www.ai.org/legislative/ic/code/title25/ar1/ch9.html#IC25-1-9-4. This, however, is not as elaborate as the candor requirements that apply to lawyers. Police officers is the one category that confuses me the most. The Indiana Supreme Court has repeatedly approved of police detectives lying to obtain a confession. See Pierce v. State, 761 N.E.2d 821, 824 (Ind. 2002), found at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/archive/01290202.trb.html; Kahlenbeck v. State, 719 N.E.2d 1214, 1217-18 (Ind. 1999), found at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/archive/11199902.trb.html.
Police officers are encouraged to lie if those lies seem to help identify the criminal. With lying essentially being part of their job, how can police officers be trusted so much?
The only explanation I can think of to explain why lawyers fall so low on the list is the fact that we lawyers work in the grey areas. We are trained to see the subtle differences in events, and we know how to exploit those differences. Most people like to see things in black and white. A lawyer's focus on a fact that is just a subtle difference from someone's thinking in black and white could be perceived as lying. I hope more people begin to explore the increasing amount of information available to them.
I hope they start to view things with a more critical eye. More information, and a healthy dose of skepticism could lead to a better recognition that lawyers are really among the most trustworthy people around.
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