Defense lawyers encourage their clients to enter a not guilty plea even when they are 100% guilty of the charges. Everyone is aware of this, which is why laypeople despise attorneys.
We won’t go into all the reasons why people dislike attorneys, but that is one of them. We’ll focus on one topic from the viewpoint of the general public: how lawyers present one side of the story even when everyone knows (or believes they know) the real story.
Having said that, there are occasions when it is preferable to admit that your customer is mistaken. If your client doesn’t agree with it, it might be time to find another client.
About Your Reputation
Don McGahn, a former White House attorney, experienced this. McGahn claims that President Trump requested him to terminate Robert Mueller over the course of his inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump refutes this. McGahn reportedly vowed to resign if Trump dismissed Mueller in the midst of the political struggle. According to The Atlantic, it had to do with his reputation. He has been a lifelong, upstanding part of the Washington Republican establishment, more so than perhaps anyone else in the Trump administration, according to Peter Beinart.
Trump urged McGahn to state that the request wasn’t an obstruction of justice after the Mueller report was made public. McGahn allegedly objected. Trump refutes this.
The Trump campaign no longer conducts business with the company where McGahn is a partner as a result of his resignation. That is a money issue legal fees that the firm had accrued since the start of the 2016 campaign totaled nearly $5.5 million. But when you admit your client is mistaken, you run that danger.
About Your Client
Not everyone has the opportunity to represent the White House. Even more uncommon still is a lawyer taking up the case of a president who is currently in office. But the fundamental question for all lawyers is the same: Should they disclose any information about clients that conflicts with popular opinion? It must be the case in the contrarian culture of legal ethics.
Lawyers must zealously represent their clients in court. They must offer information that puts their client in the best possible light, but they must never intentionally mislead the tribunal. Rules governing trial publicity extend this obligation and more to the court of public opinion.
It is the price of being advocates who occasionally say too much if lawyers are demonized, avoided, shunned, or otherwise ignominiously punished. When you vigorously defend guilty clients, that is what happens. Unless, of course, they first plead guilty.
