Is Being a Lawyer Still a Prestigious, Respected and Important Profession?

Summary: Law and its practice still holds allure for the rest of the world. This article explains why.

Yes, there are sexy professions out there; doctors, writers, emergency responders, and of course lawyers.
So what makes lawyers the professional sex symbol they’ve come to be since the interpretation of the very first law?
As you’ll see, the qualities aren’t rare. Yet having the qualities sewn up into one person, male or female, is strictly within the lawyer’s wheelhouse.

When we were kids, there were individuals working in professions we greatly admired: People such as secret agents, detectives, firefighters, and doctors were always at the top of our lists as most admirable professionals for the most admirable of professions. Needless to say, lawyers were always are at the top of that list.

Attorneys, particularly those on television or in the movies, were like gunslingers in well-fitting expensive suits. They assassinated their foes with words, facts, and juxtaposition. They were loud-voiced, well poised, and acutely persuasive. There was nothing in the world like lawyers.

They were heroes and villains, or at worst, flawed heroes floating about in their own darkness that tended to touch on villainy.

They were defenders of a justice that would go on to affect millions in based in fiction and in real life.

And of course, they were in many cases, lawyers who were quite wealthy, well-connected, rarely lonely and always relied upon for wisdom far above anyone else’s from a boardroom to an interrogation room and finally, the courtroom.

From Atticus Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird), Daniel Kaffee (A Few Good Men), to Perry Mason, Michael Kuzak (LA Law), Jack McCoy (Law and Order), Alana de la Garza and Angie Harmon (Law and Order), characters like these fortify the myth of desirability that all attorneys continue to possess.

It Helps to Be Ranked

One aspect of law that keeps it humming along swimmingly as one of the sexier professions in today’s work world is the ranking law enjoys among other professions.

In a recent article published by U.S. News and World Report, being a lawyer ranked 8^th out of the 25 Best Jobs That Pay $100,000.

Popularity, name and brand recognition need no explanation when it comes to the modern-day attorney.

Of course, another titillating tidbit to a lawyer’s prowess is how society regards them. They are:

Well paid
In a business suit, male and/or female, quite handsome
Persuasive
Convincing
Good storyteller, speaker, entertainer

If these five attributes don’t tell you that there’s still a lot of sexiness to be involved with being a lawyer, think about the above list, and list off the qualities that you believe you can take from this list. If you or another lawyer have at least one of the qualities, congrats! You and your legal profession are officially very sexy.

Primordial Instinct in a Suit and Tie

In How Important is Physical Beauty to be a Successful Lawyer? writer and former litigator, David Stankiewicz, suggests that studies show attractive people are unconsciously viewed as more persuasive, trustworthy and likable than unattractive people (and may even actually be more intelligent because they are generally healthier). Obviously, this plays to the attorneys’ advantage in that our conscious minds reject the proposition that we should find someone to be a better advocate just because we think they have better hair. Our unconscious mind, however, turns to a much different – in fact, polar opposite route.

Of course, there is no, nor can there be a straightforward correlation between beauty and advocacy. Stankiewicz proposes that if there was such a correlation, a person might simply hire a supermodel to represent them in a legal situation, and in that, expect an easy legal victory.
Stankiewicz explains that the effects of beauty on advocacy are more subtle than a courtroom slam dunk because a pretty face is fighting your fight. Instead, what a lawyer looks like can work to their advantage to the extent that it boosts their ability to be viewed as persuasive.

Given this, it is easily understood how a client will always want an older, seemingly more seasoned attorney to argue on their behalf, even in lieu of everyone realizing that the older lawyer doesn't really know the facts of the case as well as the young associate.
The client wants the comfort of seeing an experienced hand take the most important part of the case, Stankiewicz advises, and in that, looks matter when judging experience.

It Works Both Ways

An article published on the site The Talko, effectively shows how these roles aren’t exclusive with men and women; they can be switched to where men are the ones attracted to female power, particularly if that power displays itself during a deposition or while in the courtroom.

Simply put, the article lists 15 reasons strong female attorneys can net the best of the best (or, on second thought, possibly the neediest of the needy) of the male human species. A summary of that list goes like this:

The reasons men date women attorneys are…

It gives guys bragging rights: What guy wouldn’t be proud of himself and his girl if she were a successful practicing attorney?
Women attorney are fantastic dressers: She’d have to be to represent her multi-million dollar clients. Plus, guys like tastefully dressed women in general.
They stand up for their men: To be honest, it gets a bit tiring for a guy to always be the only one standing up for themselves. This is when a strong ally is appreciated.
Women attorneys are fun to debate with: Most secure men love a strong deductive point-by-point debate, and if that comes from their attorney life partner, all the better.
They know how to talk through a conflict: Attorneys by nature are outstanding debaters and thinkers. They also avoid explosiveness, accusation and ad hominins when arguing. Intelligent men thoroughly appreciate this.
Women have life experience: Between college, law school, clerkships and traveling, etc., worldly subjects and mature reactions and thought with regard to those subjects are characteristics highly sought after by men.
They are or eventually will be financially secure: Financial security holds enormous importance for men, particularly when the guy has enough of a financial challenge taking care of him. To know he’s getting involved with a woman, who has the wherewithal to take care of herself, whether or not she is an attorney, can be a great relief.
Being involved with a woman attorney means the guy will have more free time: While this is true in some respects of a woman’s law practice, it’s not so cut and dry with all men. Sure, a guy can go out with his friends to watch SNF while his girlfriend’s been stuck at the firm all Sunday, yet an exceptional man will sooner than later make up that deficit in fun time by letting her go out with her friends.
If he needs a lawyer, she’s there for him: Yes, this is reassuring, but shouldn’t at all be a reason to get involved with a woman attorney. Yes, ask her legal advice, but don’t drag her into your mess. Get your own attorney, knowing she already has enough on her plate.
It impresses the parents: Very true. A woman attorney can put a mother’s worries at ease, while Dad will know in his own man-like manners when a good catch has been netted.
They’re not clingy: Women attorney don’t need continual contact, stimulation and involvement as do other women in other professions. Their job makes them fiercely independent, which usually means they’re too busy to continually check in with their mates, or vice versa.
They’re very insightful: This quality plays within the same court as having life experience (#6). The only way individuals, whether male or female, can gain insight is to have a vast amount of knowledge from a strong group of interests. In short, when talking you will never grow bored.
They’re the ones in charge: This is one of the qualities men may like most about female attorneys. They know how to take over a situation and from that, get quality outcomes. It’s a relief to men who have always been taught that only they can be in charge of situations that need positive results.
Their beautiful intelligence: Men, by nature, love challenges. It’s in their DNA, dating back to when we all were apes. Good men also have the need for challenge, but at the same time, appreciate anyone of equal or more intelligence than they. And when that person is a woman, men tend to appreciate them even more, particularly if these men were raised to believe women were somehow intellectually subpar to their male counterparts.
They know how to turn on the charm: Attorneys are to charming what law school is to charm school. An attorney has to have some sort of allure to be effective. Women attorneys know this. They can be charming within a hot second, which is professional knowledge learned in client meetings, boardrooms, and courtrooms. When female attorneys apply that same charm to out-of-office circumstances, they become all that more special to their male mates.

Conclusion

There you have it: Being a lawyer, as it once was, is still is a sexy profession. The combination of knowledge, guts, ability to debate, take over a situation and be charming at a moment’s notice would floor almost any significant other.

This is what makes the profession of a lawyer so special, and as well, so difficult. To have that rare combination of knowledge, guts, debate, strength, and charm are rarities in and of themselves in today’s society. Thank goodness they are still present in the field of law, and if you are lucky enough to have a person with such traits as your soulmate, you should thank goodness as well.

For more information, look into these articles: