Didja hear the one about the lawyer?
Chances are you've heard more than one.
Barrister-bashing is a favorite American form of humor. Marc Galanter, author of “Lowering the Bar – Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture,” estimates that there are some 500 lawyer jokes floating around at any time. Lawyers are portrayed as greedy, sneaky and deceptive. They're compared to creatures from sharks to snakes.
What is the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? One is a scum-sucking, bottom-feeding scavenger. The other is a fish.
Not that being the brunt of bad jokes keeps people from taking up the law. Georgia's university-based law schools – Emory, Georgia State, Mercer and the University of Georgia – together are turning loose more than 750 graduates on the state this month.
The United States, with all its state and local governments, each with its own laws, is decentralized, Galanter says. That gives courts and lawyers more prominence and more work.
Lawyers become the scapegoats of a society that some folks see as over-regulated and too legalized, he says.
There was a small town with just one lawyer, and he was starving for lack of business. Then another lawyer moved to town, and they both prospered.
“The fact is that we joke about lawyers a lot because lawyers are seen as powerful, ubiquitous forces in American society,” says Galanter, a professor emeritus of law at the University of Wisconsin.
Jokes that in England or Australia are told about politicians are adapted to be about lawyers in the United States, he says.
How do you tell if a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving.
In the United States, the joke is frequently told about both politicians and lawyers.
But, of course, many politicians are lawyers.
Some respected jurists think lawyer jokes have gone too far.
Leah Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, says she no longer tells them.
“In fact, I haven't for a few years now,” she says. “The public's general disdain for my profession is undeserved and well-known.”
Sure, lawyers are frequently in the middle of controversies, she says, but for good reason. “Lawyers smooth out difficulties, relieve stress, correct mistakes, take up other men's burdens and, by our efforts, make possible the peaceful life we live in this great free country of ours.”
In the 1980s, lawyer jokes became more vicious, more likely to be about dead lawyers, Galanter says. He links the change in tone to disillusionment with public institutions after Watergate and Vietnam.
What's the difference between a dead skunk and a dead lawyer in the middle of the road? The skid marks in front of the skunk.
Of course, some lawyers themselves eagerly circulate lawyer jokes.
Robert Steed, a bond lawyer at the firm of King & Spalding, says he enjoys the humor. As an author and sometime humor columnist, he's initiated and perpetuated a few himself.
“I like lawyer jokes,” he says. “I think those people who don't like them need to hear more of them. They're taking themselves too seriously.” (Steed has no cases pending before Sears and the state Supreme Court.)
Many lawyers are proud of the number of jokes about their profession, Galanter says, and that's been noticed by professionals in other fields.
Economists have a few joke sites on the Internet, he says. He thinks he knows why they're there:
“Because economists tend to be jealous of lawyers for all their jokes.”
