Ill Repute

At one time in this country’s history, probably before I was born, the law was an extremely respectable field to go into. People viewed attorneys as the good guys, defending the rights of those who needed it. The poor, the oppressed, the underprivileged. Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch probably had a lot to do with it. Then somewhere along the line, the job lost its luster. Attorneys became viewed as slick-talking hired guns, willing to say, do, or sue anything and anyone in there never ending chase of the all mighty dollar. The public perception went from viewing attorneys as Atticus Finch, and more to viewing attorneys as Lionel Hutz.

Why does the public have such a negative perception of the legal profession? There’s probably lots of reasons, way to many to go into in just one post. One reason has to be, and I alluded to it in the first paragraph, the idea that attorneys will sue anyone for any (seemingly) stupid reason.As I was catching up with the news today, I came across this story. The 4th Court of Appeals down in San Antonio ruled that nine chimpanzees and monkeys do not, in fact have legal rights.

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas appeals court has affirmed a lower court decision that nine chimpanzees and monkeys that were brought to the Primarily Primates sanctuary in 2006 don’t have a legal right to sue.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had sought to gain legal standing for the primates transferred from Ohio State University to the sanctuary after they were retired. PETA alleged that the sanctuary conditions were substandard and that it would be best for the seven chimps and two monkeys to be moved to another sanctuary.

So what does this have to do with the public perception of the legal profession? It makes all of us look silly really. I’m certainly not about to take a case from PETA, a group of puppy-killing hypocrites, on behalf of some monkeys. But someone out with the law license felt the need to tie up the Texas court system on behalf of some chimps. The story has already been on at least one national media site and has been picked up on the AP Wire. It’s just one more story with an example of lawyers using taxpayer money to tie up the court system with a ridiculous claim. It makes all of us look bad in the eyes of the general public.

At the end of the story, it mentions that PETA is still considering an appeal of the ruling, even though they have already lost in District and now at the Court of Appeals level. I have no idea what gives them any hope that they’d get a favorable ruling from the Texas Supreme Court, but I have no doubt PETA’s lawyers don’t have any problem wasting Texas tax dollars trying, and making the legal profession look bad in the process.

Although, I suppose it could have been worse. The 4th Court of Appeals could have sided with PETA.