Tired to be a lawyer ? Try to sing !

or "the origin of the expression "Maitre Chanteur"

There is a blog in French that you lawyers and non lawyers should know and read if you understand French. It's Maître Eola's "Journal d'un avocat".

In his post "La Rage" he describes pretty well how a lawyer feels when he knows his/her client has suffered an unfair trial.

I totally felt like that when I "went to hell".

First the rage against the judges, because not only they lacked the basic compassion towards another human being, but above all because they just didn't apply the law and they know that we cannot go to a higher court to make their unlawful decisions be overruled, so they do what they damn please and it's outrageous. I fought so hard not to insult them when the decisions were given because I knew that it could only hurt my clients.

Then, the rage came back at me : what if deciding to go to plead in the retention center was a bad thing for my clients, what if the judges decided to let them rot in retention to send a message to the other lawyers : "even if you come, we are still gonna do what we damn please", what did I do that was wrong ? Do I totally suck?

Eolas has still the faith in what he does. I'm kinda loosing it right now. I know that our clients need us to be strong and full of hope and good ideas and energy to fight back again and again. But when you battle alone, it's so damn tiring. I'm so tired. And I don't see any sign of hope. Not yet. My colleagues, some support me but don't fight with me, some others criticize me, but not in front of me. So I'm kinda always getting to the same conclusion that unless I become a cold hearted person, I have to stop defending foreigners in retention because it just crushes me.

But then sometimes hope is there, just waiting to lift you up again. And it has always happened to me. At least, up until now. But to tell you the truth, this week has been a very shitty week for my clients. I need to relax, and take it easy. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do !

Or, become à Maître Chanteur...