Being a defense attorney is a difficult job to have. Family may not understand why you would want to be one, clients tend to think you should be able to get them off with no consequences, friends may think they can get away with more and of course everyone wants free legal advice. If you have decided that you want to become a defense lawyer you will probably get a lot of question like why you aren’t becoming ‘one of those nice probate litigation attorneys’ that your mother knows or a securities fraud attorney or even a business attorney or something ‘safe’ and more in line with what they think you should be arguing for. Here are a few tips for explaining why you have chosen not to be one of the litigation attorneys but a defense lawyer instead.
- Keep America Great
We all agree that America is great don’t we? Well, most of us do. Anyhow, part of what makes America so great is the Constitution. The Sixth Amendment states “…and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” Everyone deserves to have a right to counsel. If there were no defense attorneys, no one would be able to follow the Sixth Amendment. So, for all intents and purposes, as a defense lawyer, you are upholding what was makes America what it is today. - Job Safety
Another great thing about the Sixth Amendment is that it’s apart of the Constitution. Sounds obvious but more specifically, the job is guaranteed. There will always be a need for defense lawyers in the nation in order to uphold the Constitution. As long as the Constitution is around, so will defense lawyers be. That’s the beauty of the job. - Previous Defense Attorneys
There are some very well known names that were criminal defense attorneys at one point. Here are just a couple: John Adams and Abraham Lincoln. John Adams actually stated that one of the best successes of his life was the time he defended the British against the Americans. He felt it was the best way that he could have served his country. Had he been one of many litigation attorneys, he may have enjoyed his career but there is a huge possibility that he wouldn’t have felt that immense satisfaction that he did with his actual chosen career.
The fact is that the justice system simply wouldn’t work without both sides. It can be hard to explain why you want to be on the defense side of the system but if you really dig deep in to how you feel then you will be able to come up with an answer that your friends and family will be able to accept. On the off chance that they do not, you will have to decide whether or not you want to weigh the pros and cons between engaging in your dream career and living with loved ones who don’t understand your career choices or taking plan B. Plan B could be a number of things; a different kind of lawyer like litigation attorneys or maybe a different career all together.
One thing that you should remember is that at the end of the day, you have to choose what is best for you. Of course you want to please your loved ones and make them proud of you but there’s no way that they would be able to be proud of you if you take less than what you deserve. You wouldn’t be as happy as you could be and at the end of the day, that’s what your loved ones want for you more than anything.
Lastly, the best way that you can explain to your loved ones why you chose to be a defense attorney is to simply ask them to be happy for you and to support you and see that you excel in your chosen field. If they can do that for you then you will be at the best point of your life- your dream career with the love and support of those you care about behind you. That’s more than a lot of people could even dream of. Find out more about this topic here.