Re: Amazing double-talk from creationists

boris wrote:

This was my point; lawyers are trained to manipulate interpretations of
the law, evidence, previous cases and what evidence is and is not
presented, wholly for the purpose of achieving desired outcome.

Lawyers are trained to analyse the facts and law dispassionately and advise
their clients clearheadedly. They are also trained to present the
arguments for their client to the best of their ability.  The analysis bit
is one of the reasons why the vast majority of civil cases (certainly in
the UK) never see the inside of a courtroom. Most criminal cases end in
guilty pleas; but most not guilty pleas end in acquittal (certainly in the
Crown Court).

Objectivity is the last thing on a lawyer's mind in this context, because
often it is ultimately down to rhetoric. The only sense of objectivity
held by a lawyer is that which allows them to carry out their job, which
many view as morally bankrupt. This objectivity is the detachment from
their client, such that they can argue the case for defence of a rapist
(as an arbitrary example), disregarding their own feelings on the matter
and the accused.

It would be morally bankrupt for a lawyer to  deny his/her client a fair
trial simply because s/he believes him/her to be guilty. I have mixed
feelings about lawyers who, for example, "don't do rape", which very often
means that the lawyer in question is assuming the defendant's guilt without
even considering the evidence. Their professional duty requires them to
defend their client to the best of their ability, and making the jury's
decision for them is not part of that duty; and a lawyer's personal
feelings about the crime of which the defendant is accused should be
equally irrelevant to their performance.

Conversely, a lawyer's duty requires him/her to decline to put forward a
positive case if the defendant admits the crime to him/her; in such cases,
s/he is limited to putting the prosecution to proof of guilt.

Yes, I do have strong feelings on the subject; there are many reasons for
criticising lawyers, but it is perverse to criticise them for doing what
they are duty-bound to do if the whole creaky system is to operate with any
semblance of fairness.


Judges I can't comment on, because I don't know any, but I think they are
supposed to be truly objective in any case, as far as any human can be.

"catshark" <catshark101@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1142184454.135194.287910@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Without descending into "war stories", lawyers who speak to juries
after trials are uniformly surprised about why they reached the
findings they did. I've seen no signs that mere oratory is a major
factor, though coupled with the hard work of presenting the evidence
well, it will doubtless have *some* effect. And rhetoric, in the sense
of cogently presenting a position, is not necessarily pernicious.

--
Robin Levett
rlevett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (unmunge by removing big blue - don't yahoo)

.

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