August 17, 2012
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On Refusal
The ability of a lawyer to refuse a case exists because this allows lawyers to refuse when it would violate their morals or principles.
If you do not ever refuse a case, no matter how ridiculous or abusive . . . empirically, you do not have morals or principles.
I’m not applying this to new lawyers, who statistically speaking may not have actually encountered an abusive lawsuit or anything yet. I’m just saying that overall – in any profession – there has to be SOME line you draw, or you don’t have any principles. (Or your principles have no effect, which is essentially the same thing.)
That’s up to you. But you should own it. Admit it, if only to yourself.
