I’m not asking about the ethics of lying, or whether lawyers may be justified in lying. That is beside the point. I am just asking: hypothetically, would it be possible for a lawyer to have a successful career while never uttering so much as a white lie?
Like, let’s say the lawyer had some sort of spell cast on them, so they could never lie. If someone were to ask them a question, they’d either need to find a way to avoid answering or answer honestly. Would it be possible for a lawyer in such circumstances to still go on and have a successful career?
Anedcote: I once had a lead developer who was a successful lawyer earlier in his career. He quit his law office because he could not stomach defending people who were not only obviously guilty, bet were scumbags as well.
Alternatively ethical defense lawyers often do so because even the horrible and unsympathetic people deserve the fundamental protections we all are entitled to.
I hear family law is particularly brutal though as the saying goes criminal law is bad people on their best behavior and family law is good people on their worst behavior