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79 A.B.A. J. 60 (1993)
Vox Populi - The Public Perception of Lawyers: ABA Poll

handle is hein.journals/abaj79 and id is 1000 raw text is: O N T H E P R O F E S S I 0 N THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF LAVYERS: ABA POLL BY GARY A. HENGSTLER mage is everything! Or so says professional tennis champion Andre Agassi in a popular televi- sion commercial that exudes confi- dence or arrogance, depending on your point of view. While Agassi most certainly over- states the case for image, it is clear that a positive public perception has always been an important, desirable goal. In the case of American law- yers, who labor to improve the work- ings of the justice system, this desire to enhance the legal profession's standing in the eyes of the public has taken on an urgency in recent years that seemingly is unparalleled in the profession's long history. You saw this desire in lawyers' reaction to former Vice President Dan Quayle, who asked whether Gary A. Hengstler is editor and publisher of the ABA Journal. America needs so many lawyers when he addressed the American Bar As- sociation House of Delegates in 1991. You can see it when today's comedians sarcastically find a way to work lawyers into many of their routines. You can see it when a major beer brewer thinks it can improve profits by running commercials show- ing lawyers as rodeo cattle. You can see it in movie theaters when the audience laughs as the lawyer is devoured by a Tyranno- saurus Rex. You can see it in last year's ABA survey of lawyers, who ranked im- proving the standing of the profes- sion in the eyes of the public as one of the highest priorities they want the ABA to address. And you can see it in letters addressed to the ABA Journal. But are lawyers really held in such low esteem? What does the public think about the legal profes- sion? And if lawyers have a public perception problem, what has caused it? More importantly, what can be done about it? The association, in an effort to acknowledge and understand public perceptions, commissioned Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc. to conduct a comprehensive survey of the public's view of the profession. The results? Well, like most surveys, the public has mixed feel- ings. But one fundamental fact sur- faced: The problem goes far beyond image. The public perception seems based on strongly rooted dissatisfac- tions with some aspects of the way the system works and how lawyers practice their skills. While there was no blanket condemnation, it is apparent that there are certainly aspects of the current practice of law in which the public wants improvement. And, since the public by its very nature is made up of diverse elements, it is only

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