We were watching a documentary last night concerning broadening civil rights in Canada. The narrator pointed out that some of the most groudbreaking decisions to come out of the Supreme Court in the last five years began because one person got a lawyer. Then, that lawyer worked to make a successful argument the law should be changed. One person and their legal council. That's it. After hearing Mr. Edney (Khadr's lawyer) speak on Wednesday and then watching this documentary, I am beginning to become so excited about the deeper implications of what being a lawyer can mean.
I'm beginning to understand what a nobel profession law can be if used as a tool for justice. My undergrad professor once quoted Shakespeare's Henry VI to us, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." He told us that this quote is often attributed to just another lawyer joke about how greedy and corrupt the profession can be. Yet, a read of the play reveals this line is uttered by one of the villians, Dick the Butcher, who is looking to overthrow the government. Dick's logic is that getting rid of advocates is the surest way to chaos and tyranny--remove the guardians of independent thinking. Our professor wanted us to know getting into law is getting in the way of those who would disregard it.
Last year, the black-suited lawyers of Pakistan were at the forefront of the campaign against President Pervez Musharraf, boycotting courts across the country, protesting the emergency rule he illegally imposed. "How can you walk into a courtroom and address a judge as 'My lord' if he has taken an oath to a dictator?" asked one of the protesting attorneys.
I went to Shakespeare's hometown a few years ago and bought a magnet with this phrase. While I am sometimes accused of neferous intent in pursuing law, I want to remind myself of all the good that can be done by someone who knows the law and uses that knowledge to bring justice to others.
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