I'm not a lawyer or a judge so my perspective comes from a different set of experiences. While things may have changed since you were on the bench, my experience in the courts—as plaintiff and defendant—during the past 20 or so years has been that lawyers fit into three basic subgroups: the good (smart, competent, care about the law and fair play), the bad (incompetent, dumb and/or pompous, their real client is the billable hour, pain-in-the-ass what can I get away with types) and the ugly (these are just licensed criminals willing to do anything—including break the law—to win at all costs hiding behind the false God of “zealous advocacy”). Unfortunately, my experience is the third group is growing rapidly—aided and abetted by those on the bench and Bar Associations—that continue to undermine the general citizenry’s respect for the entire legal system.