Fred C. Zacharias, “True Confessions About the Role of Lawyers in a Democracy,” Fordham Law Review, vol. 77, no. 6 (2009): 1591-1609
This considers the common notion that attorneys, because of their status, have unique obligations to support law reform enhancing individual rights and open, representative government.
Participants who envision liberal or other reformist values as the core of an enduring, modern democracy may argue that lawyers are especially competent and inclined to promote those values. I myself originally shared this orientation and, deep down, still wish lawyers would adhere to it. Nevertheless, this essay concludes that there is no reason to expect that lawyers generally will work in support of substantive progressive ideals.
A working democracy, however, may incorporate process values to which lawyers have a special tie. There is some justification for encouraging lawyers to be sensitive to process concerns and to help create a setting in which democracy can flourish. This essay suggests that, in a very limited sphere, lawyers play a unique role in the protection of the rule of law.