The Two-Faced Lawyer

“He is no lawyer who cannot take two sides” — Charles Lamb

As the days pass, I find that I have less and less time to fill this blog with anything meaningful. That’s a good thing. And in all hustle and bustle, I have found a new paradox in the prodigious field of ‘lawyerin.’  What I have learned is summed up best by the following idiom: 

“Talking out of both sides of your mouth.” 

I stand in court on one day and argue for a point, only to show up the next day to argue against that point. It happens often. As an advocate for my client, I must argue for their interests. I have more than one client, and their interests are often not aligned. Thus, it is necessary to be consistently inconsistent in my legal arguments. I’ll give a basic example to illustrate.

When I am representing a mother in a child custody case, I may argue that a young child’s best interest is served by spending the majority of time with that mother. It’s the “tender years” argument. It works, although, it has its flaws. But if I were representing the father in that same case, I would argue the counter to that point. For instance, that the “tender years doctrine” is no longer viable in Tennessee. In addition, I would argue that the age of the child is but one factor. It obviously gets deeper than this in actual litigation but I think that makes the point clear. 

I have wrapped my head around this and I am pretty comfortable about the two-faced nature of this business. There are unintended consequences, though. The one that I have noticed most is my incessant desire to argue. Now, my wife would say that this it not new. However, I have in the past been much more selective about my desire to quibble. But, more recently, I feel a yearning to bicker, quarrel, feud, hash, re-hash, and simply cross swords. 

This may be a good thing in my chosen profession. What I have to continue to strive for is what I like to call “civil disobedience.” Civil disobedience is that ability to fuss and fight in the heat of battle but then remain civil outside the courtroom. I think that’s key for remaining sane in the practice of law. And at the end of the day, sanity is all we can really ask for out of this crazy world.