I used to feel confident that when I rode in to the courtroom, I wore a white hat. But now, more times than not, I feel that I am still wearing the white hat. The problem is that many times the good guy has also wronged the bad guy somehow, and disputes hinge on a matter of degrees. Civil practice is the business of forging and dissolving relationships. The guy who is your client s best hope today may be her worst nightmare tomorrow.
Roles are much fuzzier, and the law can be less clear-cut.
Perhaps the fact that civil law is so much more complex leads to the assumption that attorneys manipulate it to suit their client s advantage. In fact, what I see now is that civil practitioners also serve the law rather than merely manipulate it for their client s case. Today I try to wear the white hat, I think I wear the white hat, but just as often that hat is black, or even brown. But I feel that I can still call myself a lawyer. The mission of the Washington State Bar Association is to promote justice and to serve its members and the public.