Question: How do lawyers benefit humanity?
As with many people, this asker is wondering if lawyers benefit humanity, and if they do, how so.
Lawyers benefit humanity in many ways. Some answers off the top of my head:
First, it is attorneys who help to enforce individual rights. When the government passes a law that violates the Constitution, it is an attorney who is going to fight the government to overturn the law. If a police officer or public official oversteps his bounds, it is an attorney who steps in to help the individual who has had his rights violated. Attorneys also help to move the law forward. Without a lawyer cases such as Brown v. Board of Education never would have happened and we would probably still have legal segregation. Not to say there are never lawyers on the wrong side of the case. There are. But that is how our system works. Someone to fight for both sides.
Second, many attorneys engage in pro bono activities, meaning they help people for free. Lawyers might do this by taking on cases or they might do this by joining groups such as Wills for Heroes, Free Law Day, or other events that go on throughout the year.
Third, many individuals who go to law school are interested in helping society in general. It is true, with law school debt, many people end up changing their minds, but there are still a substantial number of attorneys who work in legal aid, rights groups, and other forms of low income or charitable organizations.
Fourth, lawyers both protect both society and individuals. You see this especially in the criminal system where the prosecutor tries to put an alleged criminal in prison, and the defense attorney tries to keep him out (or make the best deal possible.) Our system requires this two part representation to make sure everyone’s rights are protected.
Fifth, if someone is harmed, lawyers help try to make that person whole in the only way possible in our society, with financial compensation. Imagine an individual’s frustration if he were hurt in a car accident or harmed by a doctor and unable to seek any recompense.
Those are just a few ways lawyers benefit humanity and society.