<p>This is for pure fun/interest. </p>
<p>My liberal friends from my undergrad (Berkeley) generally have a bad rap with corporate lawyers. They have this notion that these lawyers, especially at top law firms, are immoral, mindless, and are servants to big business. They believe that corporate lawyers actively defend big business in white collar litigation, derivatives litigation, seek for loopholes in environmental regulations, defend doctors in tort litigation, ect. </p>
<p>I respond by saying that the vast majority of corporate lawyers, even at big law firms, aren't involved in these "dirty" or "immoral" lawsuits. And corporations DO have the rights to defend themselves, even if they did commit fraud or breached regulations. Therefore, it would make sense that corporate lawyers, along with most lawyers, have a diversity of political views. I also tell them FDR, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards (in spite of his ethics), were corporate lawyers before entering politics. </p>
<p>Is this generally true? Do you feel that corporate lawyers have a diversity of political views, and are not just fiscal conservatives? </p>
<p>In my undergrad, the business majors tended to be social on liberal issues, but more moderate, and sometimes conservative on fiscal issues. Maybe it's just a business thing, idk.</p>
<p>First of all, I think that IS a business thing. In regards to corporate lawyers, I think you misunderstood your friends’ arguments. Liberals often say that going to Big Law is corrupt because (and not entirely untruthfully) corporate law only helps the rich stay rich, which supports the American Plutocracy. There’s always that classic sense of Liberal guilt inspiring us to do community work and help those who were less fortunate in life. Consequently, Liberal lawyers advocate going into public interest law. And if you’ve ever read One L, you’d know that a lot of the Law Schools kind of make people more jaded, and people lose their interest in helping others in favor of working for higher pay. A lot of social Conservatives have a belief that everyone starts out on even footing in this country, and that if you aren’t successful then it’s because you didn’t work hard enough. So why should they help lazy people by practicing public interest law, when these people could’ve been rich if they had worked harder? So these conservatives go into corporate law. I know your question was about Fiscal Conservatism, but I think that if someone is THAT socially conservative, then they’re bound to be Fiscally Conservative, too. Your thread however, is a case of both parties being wrong, I think. Your friends are throwing some Liberal propaganda at you (and I’m a liberal, mind you). They’re citing a long standing liberal belief that isn’t entirely true.</p>
<p>I know hundreds of corporate lawyers. You’ll find all political stripes represented. In my experience, the true hard-line conservative position is the minority. Many/maybe most are more fiscally conservative/moderate and liberal on social issues. And there are even some very left leaning ones, too! The vast majority of the ones I know are very involved in their communities and are extremely generous in supporting charitable organizations. Most large firms have allowances (and encouragement) for a certain amount of pro bono work. I’ve never met a corporate lawyer who could be described as collegejawn has described a social conservative.</p>
<p>Sounds like you should get some new friends.</p>
<p>John Edwards was not a corporate lawyerbefore he entered politics; he was a plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyer.</p>
<p>Lawyers who work for corporations (or who work for law firms that represent corporations) have a variety of political views. </p>
<p>In my view, people who summarily denouce all corporations as evil are naive. I feel the same about those who moon after Ayn Rand and her “Objectivist” nonsense.</p>
<p>The modern corporation is an efficient way to aggregate and organize resources to achieve ends that no individual could achieve. They’re tasked with maximizing profits for their shareholders, consistent with the law. Corporate lawyers spend much of their time explaining to management the legal constraints under which they operate. </p>
<p>The most successful corporations tend to be aware that their success can depend heavily on their public image. Having a reputation for skating up to the very edge of what is legally permissible can be bad for business.</p>