Walk the Line
No, this piece is not going to be about the film about Johnny Cash. It is about the line you have to tread when dealing with clients. The need to care, but not to care too much. The need to represent, but not to become too closely identified.
There has recently been an extreme example of a lawyer forgetting completely where the line was, and abandoning totally her duties as a solicitor and hence officer of the court. Daniela Scotece tried to smuggle cannabis to a client who was a prisoner. Nor was it apparently a spur of the moment thing. Her drug dealer client would normally have only attended a preliminary hearing by video link, but she said he was hard of hearing and so had to attend in person. She then hid some drugs in her bra in order to give them to him. Captured by police thanks to the trained sniffer dogs, she not only lost her career but lost her liberty, being sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Of course as a lawyer you must always (as long as you do not mislead the court) try your absolute best for the client. Fearlessly representing the client is what you are there for. You are not there to give up, to wimp out, or to curry favour with the powers that be. You are there to battle on your client's behalf.
Trial by a battle has long since been abolished (and in modern judgments its absence has only apparently been regretted once: a judge was trying in action where two boxers were in dispute over who was truly entitled to be called the champion of the particular island at a particular weight category, and the judge suggested that had any form of trial by battle still been allowed it would have been better for them to have a boxing match to settle the difference rather than the court case). Nonetheless in a sense, metaphorically, you are the champion for your client. You are there to do battle for them, within the rules. They are entitled to assume that you will fight to the finish on their behalf. That is what any self-respecting barrister would do.
However you risk being no use to your client if you do not maintain your detachment and independence. Litigation and advocacy is about making split-second decisions and difficult judgment calls. Of course you must show concern for your client, but if you start to identify too closely with them you risk losing the very independence and objectivity that can best help them.
Imagine you are a heart surgeon. You care for your patients, obviously. You have a calling. You need strong nerves as well as considerable skill to slice people open in order to help them. Let us say you were to operate on a loved one. Could you cut them open with the same precise efficiency? Or would your concern for them end up hindering you when you were doing the very thing which they most needed?
Detachment is not the same as coldness. Your client should know you are there for them. Your client should know you have their interests at heart. But if you are to truly do your best for a client, you should not get emotionally involved.
Obviously most lawyers would never contemplate getting so involved that they committed a reprehensible act, still less an illegal one like smuggling drugs. At a much lower level however, the danger of failing to walk on the right side of the line is there for all lawyers.