Alex de Tocqueville noted that “people in democratic states do not mistrust the members of the legal profession, because it is known that they are interested to serve the popular cause; and the people listen to them without irritation because they do not attribute to them any sinister designs.” Times have changed. Today, polls by myriad sources indicate that the public's trust and respect for attorneys have atrophied since de Tocqueville's era. It is not uncommon to confront contemporary descriptions of attorneys as “parasites, hired-guns of large corporations or grasping clients, motivated by greed and neglectful of the public good.” The public's principal complaints about lawyers concern (1) perceptions of greed; (2) a minimal commitment to pro bono publico obligations; (3) fomenting a system of nastiness, rather than cooperation through alternative dispute resolution; and (4) a failure of attorney self-regulation to control and cure deficiencies in the attorney-client relationship. For instance, a poll by the American Bar Association found that 42 percent favor expanding “alternatives to lawsuits by encouraging use of mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution programs.” And 56 percent of the public believes that “lawyers tend to recommend more legal work than necessary because it increases their fees.”

However, the most critical public attitude is the public's distrust of attorney self-regulation; “lawyer discipline is an oxymoron” according to a majority of the public.