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View submission: The Ethics of Defense Lawyers
Defense lawyer in civil rights cases here. If I don't do my job, then that means the plaintiff/prosecutor, judge, jury, appeals court, etc. can get away with not doing their jobs. Maybe that's "OK" from a moral perspective in an individual case where the defendant deserves to lose, but a justice system where those with power aren't held to their responsibilities creates a dangerous and dysfunctional system for all of us.
Sometimes I'll feel some kind of way about a client, but my feelings about it aren't really important to me because I take ultimate pride in my professionalism. If I don't defend the least sympathetic of clients, who will? What if there's nobody else? That's the most noble thing I can do to make our system better.
I occasionally have people ask me how I sleep at night doing what I do, expecting that I feel some kind of moral quandary. I don't. My stock answer: naked, two pillows, and a fan on.
There's nothing here!