The economic downturn of the 1990s has inevitably affected lawyers along with everyone else. To be sure, there are critics who claim the legal profession has more influence than it should. These criticisms are perennial. They reflect recurrent anxieties and concerns, some of which are surely justified. But none touch the crisis that now threatens the collective soul of American lawyers.
People choose a career in the law for many reasons.
Some do so for money and others for power and prestige, and a few, at least, become lawyers in order to advance their political ideals. But these are all external reasons for choosing a life in the law. They all portray the practice of law as a means to an end that lies beyond it. There is nothing wrong with any of these reasons. They are all respectable, and the last is genuinely admirable.