Atticus’s life instruction to his daughter, Scout. As he explains, “If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” In summer 2009, and again this July, the United States was roiled by debate about Barack Obama’s promise to appoint a supreme court justice who embodies this quality of “empathy”. Scores of critics asserted that judicial empathy is the same as judicial bias; that judges are at their best when they coldly and mechanically apply the law. There is no place for climbing inside anyone else’s skin as a judge. There is only truth and cold fact.

How strange it is, that we have come to a place in the national debate about justice when Atticus Finch’s mild admonition to his daughter to try to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes has become the definition of dangerous judicial activism. While Atticus still has much to teach lawyers about race and violence and prejudice and the rule of law, I have also come to think of him as the patron saint of patient, quiet listening; a quality to which all of us ought to aspire.

In years past, film and television presented us with a set of lawyers who were decent people and honest, competent professionals – sometimes even heroes. In film, Atticus Finch, Paul Biegler, Clarence Darrow, Amanda Bonner, or Judge Dan Haywood served as wonderful role models for everyone in the profession from law students up to grizzled veterans. Today, it’s just the opposite. Most film lawyers are bad role models. Lawyers on the big screen are teaching lawyers and law students that uncivil and unethical behavior is rewarded in law practice. Law students are taught that they must be Rambo with a briefcase to be successful; perhaps young people who find that model attractive are disproportionately choosing legal careers. While there is little or nothing that we can do to alter the way lawyers are portrayed in popular culture, we can make use of film and television to better understand the fundamental problems besetting our profession. Do a lot of lawyers have alcohol or drug problems? Do many of them act in a rude, uncivil manner? Do they chase ambulances? Do they treat associates and staff members exploitatively? Do lawyers work too many hours, thus wrecking personal relationships? Are many of them deeply dissatisfied with their career choices? Is there a big firm, win-at-all-costs mentality? Yes, to all these questions. These are the realities of law practice at the millenium. We need to seriously address all of these problems and invest in finding solutions to them, whether or not we ever succeed in improving our public image. Thinking about the way that we’re portrayed in film can teach us a lot about ourselves.