Jokes and negative stereotypes about lawyers abound, suggesting low levels of honesty and morality. One commentator has suggested a reason for this: The joke rings true to a lot of people because of what many lawyers in this country - including many at the top of the profession - do for their clients: bend, distort, conceal, cover up, obfuscate, or misrepresent the facts, in ways that are simultaneously (1) regarded by ordinary people as just plain dishonest, and (2) defended by many lawyers and legal experts as embodying the finest traditions of the bar and of legal ethics in our adversary system.
