By: Albert Ortiz
I remember when I first arrived at law school for orientation, feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety. For many years I had known that I wanted to go to law school, and here I was, with my ears wide open, yearning for some words of wisdom that would aid me in the legal journey I was about to embark in. Yet looking back now, only a year and a half later, I cannot say, without be disingenuous, that I remember a word that was said. I do however remember the screening of the film, Changing Lanes, and the lasting impression the film’s underlying message had on me.
The film, starring Ben Affect and Samuel L. Jackson, is a perfect depiction of Prof. Rosenbaum’s Human Rights class, especially with regard with the seemingly simply, yet practically “difficult,” notion of doing the right thing. In the film, the lives of Doyle Gibson and Gavin Benek, a recovering alcoholic and a Walls Street layer respectively, are forever altered when their paths cross. On a decisive day in both their lives, Gibson, going to court to try winning custody of his children, and Benek on his way to seal his career-making case, the two get into a car accident, causing Doyle to miss his hearing and Gavin to accidentally give Doyle a signed document that is critical to his case.
As the film unravels it becomes evident that Benek’s life has been based on bending rules and making unequivocally immoral decisions—an apparent requirement to becoming a successful Wall Street lawyer. Benek is eventually faced with a moral crossroad, when the firm’s partner’s (one of which is his wife’s father) as him to forge the document that he lost. The film is interesting because although it is clear that not going through with it is the right thing to do, Benek seems to be the only one to even consider the line between right and wrong. Even his wife, whom one would hope would be the voice of reason, advises him to forge the document and to focus on his career.
Hence, implicit in the entire film is the notion that the line between right and wrong is simply irrelevant to many lawyers when making career-related decisions. At one point in the film, Benek’s father-in-law states, “at the end of the day, I do more good than harm; what other standard have I got?” This distorted, yet prevalent view is a perfect example of why lawyers are so distrusted and even hated in our society. Doing the right thing is not about balancing the good and the harm one does. What other standard does one have…? How about simply doing what you know is right?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Culture Forum Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.