We all can tend, at times, to take ourselves a bit too seriously. Lawyers, in particular, have a tendency to fall victim to this vice. So, in the spirit of self-abasement, I offer the following quote from my 10th-grade daughter’s history book regarding 18th century attorneys:
“At first the law profession was not favorably regarded. In this pioneering society, which required much honest manual labor, the parties to a dispute often presented their own cases in court. Lawyers were commonly regarded as noisy windbags or trouble-making rogues; an early Connecticut law classed them with drunkards and brothel keepers. When future president John Adams was a young law student, the father of his wife-to-be frowned upon him as a suitor because of his chosen profession.”
David M. Kennedy & Lizabeth Cohen, The American Pageant: A History of the American People 85 (AP 16th ed. 2016).
