by Jennifer A Cooper QC

The cruise ship foundered and most of the passengers were eaten by sharks. Why did all of the lawyers survive? Professional courtesy.

Why do we laugh at “lawyer’s jokes”? We laugh when our friends, who should know better, tell us the latest one. We laugh when our lawyer colleagues regale us with jokes designed to show how truly greedy and unethical lawyers can be. We even laugh when a perfect stranger finds out we are a lawyer and immediately insults our profession with a truly tasteless lawyer’s joke. It would seem odd to meet a black person for the first time and immediately share a racist joke with them and then expect that they will laugh along, “Whassa matter, no sense of humour?” Yet we laugh at lawyer’s jokes.

Two years ago I was at a $100 a plate political fundraiser. Half the audience was comprised of lawyers who had parted with their hard-earned money to support this particular politician. The first thing he did in his speech was to tell a really bad lawyer joke. There was some laughter, but also some rather voluble hisses. Suddenly it struck me, and the lawyers at my table, that it was not necessary to laugh. And we didn’t. It was like a light going on.

I love to laugh, more than most. It keeps you young, clears the sinuses, reminds you that nothing is that bad that you can’t find a humorous side. But ever since that fateful fundraising dinner, I don’t laugh at lawyer jokes anymore.

I attended a brainstorming session of the Family Law Section this summer and the lawyers spoke highly of the networking opportunities afforded by the Section and of the high quality and timely continuing legal education. But the members expressed what so many others have informed me of since I assumed this office as President: we simply must do more to improve the image of lawyers. One lawyer spoke movingly of his young son and how important it was to him that he have respect for the work his father was doing.

I recalled a story from last Spring when I was driving my own son home from choir practise. I could hear him arguing with his friend in the back seat. His friend was bragging about how he stays up late, doesn’t do his homework, and so on. My son’s parting shot, delivered out of his rolled down window was, “just wait until we grow up and I’m a lawyer and you’re a garbage man!” With apologies to our fair civic employees, my son has learned to equate success with lawyering. In our home we are proud to be lawyers. And our image in the community should reflect this.

Many MBA (Manitoba Bar Association) members are expending considerable effort to attempt to improve the public image of lawyers. Our Communications/Public Relations Committee chaired by Jeff Harris is developing ideas for a new initiative this year. Our Vice-President John Jones and I are meeting with members of the press on an individual basis in order to introduce ourselves and hopefully get better media coverage of our issues. David Kroft is chairing the Community Partnership Initiative, a Committee designed to identify a worthwhile charity for the MBA to “twin” with, in recognition of the many hours of public service which lawyers donate to our community. Melanie Lautt is participating on our behalf in a School Curriculum Committee (Justice Component), designed to bring information about lawyers and the legal system to school age children. Shane Perlmutter will chair Law Day this Spring, our premiere annual event designed to showcase lawyers and the legal system in a positive way for members of the public. Gwen Hatch represents our interests on a committee which is developing a new program called “Leave a Legacy”, designed to improve public education about the important of estate planning.

Does it make sense to expend all this effort to improve our image and then participate in jokes that reinforce our image as greedy and unethical?

So don’t laugh. It will do us a world of good.

Jennifer A Cooper QC is the President of the Manitoba Bar Association. This article, which originally appeared in the November issue of the Manitoba Branch Newsletter Headnotes and Footnotes, has been reproduced with Ms. Cooper’s permission.

This article was published in the December 1998 issue of BarTalk. © 1998 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.