. We live under the rule of law. We have formed a powerful government to administer this law – a government that can deprive a person of property, liberty and even life. But, unlike popular governments, which depend on power, our rule of law ultimately depends on the consent of the governed for its survival. The public must have confidence that the government and its underlying legal system are fair and equitable. Lawyers are both directors and servants of this trust. Long before law became an industry, our society turned to the profession to protect a complex system that keeps our country running. [4] In addition to their duty to their clients, lawyers are often among the first to speak out and fight injustice and make the necessary social and political changes. If there are human rights violations by the executive branch or law enforcement agencies, lawyers will often put these issues in the spotlight. Lawyers also contribute to society as a whole when their services are tasked with drafting new legislation or amending existing laws to meet the changing needs of society.

In court, lawyers participate in the development of law by presenting legal arguments that will have significant public consequences. Draconian and unjust laws are often challenged by lawyers to protect the public interest. [52] As noted above, many other aspects of our daily practice merit analysis based on their historical ancestry. An example would be the tool commonly used to request extraordinary «privileges» such as the writ of mandamus. Under the Alabama Constitution and the laws flowing from those constitutional provisions, the courts of appeals and the District of Alabama have the express authority to issue such injunctions. See Ala. Const. VI, §§ 140-142 (having regard to the written powers of the courts of appeals and the district of Alabama); 1975 Code, §§ 12-2-7 (2&3) (Supreme Court), 12-3-11 (Court of Appeal). Searching for these documents is a common and familiar process for lawyers in Alabama, as they are in virtually every jurisdiction. One could simply look at the many petitions for writs of mandamus regularly collected each year by Alabama courts of appeals on everything from discovery battles to decisions of jurisdiction, jurisdictional issues, etc. See Ex parte U.S. Bank Nat`l Ass`n, 148 So.3d 1060, 1064 (Ala.

2014) (list of different types of decisions for which Mandamus review was deemed appropriate). In doing so, we are once again resorting to legal remedies of an old and honourable line. See, for example, Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., The Early Evolution of the Common Law Writs: A Sketch, 6 am. J. Legal Hist. 114 (1962); Baker, supra no. 7, pp.

153-60; Robert H. Howell, An Historical Account of the Rise and Fall of Mandamus, 15 Victoria U. Wellington L. Rev. 127 (1985); see generally Baker & Milsom, Sources of English Legal History (Sir John Baker ed., 2nd ed. 2010) (discusses various forms of historical writing from original sources). How does such an ancient and noble profession lose its perspective and the sense of dignity that should follow? It`s actually quite easy, especially considering the busy schedules that many of us follow, to allow what we`re doing to become a purely technical industry. Either we have never learned the roots of our noble profession, or we have long forgotten them. So many of the things we do day in and day out without thinking too much are actually tools passed down as part of the great and ancient English legal tradition. Ambulance hunting – a mocking insult once reserved for shy and unethical people who dragged ambulances to the hospital to register giddy accident victims – is now practiced, respected and rewarded at all levels of the profession. Today`s ambulance hunters are called plaintiffs` lawyers or rainmakers, and they hunt down plane crashes, train wrecks, oil spills, and all sorts of human tragedies for their third (plus cost) class action lawsuits. Or they urge clients to pursue hostile corporate takeovers, avoid taxes, circumvent environmental laws, and provide political access to lawmakers who can write millions of dollars in fine print into law.

Many Washington lawyers fuel citizens` distrust of government by converting their public service titles into high private fees. In its press notice announcing the industry`s assault on the Food and Drug Administration`s proposed rules to keep cigarettes out of the hands of children, the Tobacco Institute, and not just the leaders of Philip Morris, Lorillard and R.