John's excellent posts from the Lawyering at the Edge conference reminded me of a time, before I was seduced by economics, when I wanted nothing more than to be a criminal defense lawyer. I had the great good fortune to spend a summer working for the late Vince Fuller, best known for winning the acquittal, by reason of insanity, of John Hinckley.
Vince was a gentleman in the fullest and best sense of the word. Despite his stature, there was no pretense, no hint of pomposity, to him. He treated his work as a job. The job had the dignity of honest, hard work; no more, no less.
After the Hinckley verdict, Vince was quoted as saying only "another day, another dollar." I was not sure what to make of that when I first heard it. Some media reports portrayed it as the height of cynicism. After working for Vince for a little while, though, I interpreted the comment as saying, in essence "This is what I do for a living. It's not political commentary, and it's not a social movement. It's a job."
I would never begrudge any criminal defense attorney whatever orientation to the job they need to take to get it done, but I have always thought the jobbist approach has a lot to recommend it. "Another day, another dollar" is not an inspiring slogan, but it is a sound philosophy.
DM