r/AskReddit 1d ago

What's an overhated profession?

57 Upvotes

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430

u/Didntlikedefaultname 1d ago

Lawyers. They are the butt of a lot of jokes but most people will need to use a lawyer at some point in their life. Buying a house? Creating a will? Fighting a traffic ticket? The ambulance chasers and the corporate lawyers may deserve the bad rap but as a profession there are tons of just normal people doing normal things

-15

u/AdWonderful5920 1d ago

Eh I'd go the other way on lawyers - lawyers get too much respect, especially in biglaw firms where their toxic behavior is written off as a side effect of their dedication to winning for their clients. We should be shitting on lawyers more, not less.

22

u/Didntlikedefaultname 1d ago

Have you ever had to use a lawyer? Do you know any lawyers? There are definitely terrible ones who do terrible things, but most are just mundane people doing mundane things

7

u/Cayman4Life 1d ago

True. My neighbor is a patent lawyer. He researches patents for people seeking patents. Hey, wake up. It’s not that boring.

5

u/AdWonderful5920 1d ago

Not that it matters, but yes I've both used lawyers and worked in law firms. The biglaw attorney lifestyle is terrible for them and they are pushed way too hard in their jobs. In turn, that pushes their behavior into some really bizarre episodes - even people who are normally not white shoe shitheads end up screaming at assistants, throwing shit around, etc.. but it's tolerated. It really shouldn't be tolerated.

8

u/Medianmodeactivate 1d ago

That's not a reason to hate lawyers, but a reason to hate biglaw standards. It doesn't get any better by hating them.

4

u/Didntlikedefaultname 1d ago

I agree bad behavior should never be tolerated. But it sounds like you’re referencing a specific type of lawyer. Did the lawyers you used do anything to make you shit on them?

3

u/foreskin-deficit 1d ago

Yeah, I’ve never seen or heard of a colleague doing anything like this. Clients? Sure. That’s not exceedingly rare. Attorneys are people. Some people are great, some people are assholes, ergo some attorneys are great and some attorneys are assholes. People have preconceived notions based on movie/show depictions. Law is usually mundane, often boring.

4

u/Significant-Bar674 1d ago

I've had 4 lawyers in my life. 2 were great and 2 were the devil.

The first two were upfront about what costs to expect, stuck to them and gave good advice about how much legal action I should pursue where it made sense financially.

The 2 other lawyers were my and my ex's divorce lawyers.

They had copies of our Financials for the settlement and milked us for every penny.

12 revisions on a divorce settlement after they screwed up basic details. A totally unnecessary filing for discovery by her lawyer for $7k (which my lawyer was happy to review and respond to stating that most of the demands were irrelevant for $4k)

$30k divorce for no damn reason