Skip to Content

The Eagle, the Cocks, and the Attorney

August 30, 2017 Blogs

There is much to admire in a slave who earned freedom through wit and intellect, even if Aesop is only a tradition. I also like him for being a master storyteller with animals as protagonists. The story of the eagle and the cocks teaches one possible consequence of crossing the line from capability to show:

There were two cocks in the same farmyard, and they fought to decide who should be master. When the fight was over, the beaten one went and hid himself in a dark corner, while the victor flew up on the roof of the stables and crowed lustily. But an eagle espied him from high up in the sky, and swooped down and carried him off. Forthwith the other cock came out of his corner and ruled the roost without a rival.

Maybe I’m off, but with a lot of self-deprecation, I find an attorney comparison. From the wall street journal’s July 20, 2017 article: “the hottest field in law? ranking the lawyers”:

A proliferation of attorney awards and rankings—more than 1,200 by one count—is inundating law-firm marketing departments…. Law firms spend $157,000 annually on average in employee time and expenses to complete awards submissions…. For larger firms, the average is $691,000, with one reporting spending $5 million…. Contests are often pay-to-play…. A whole cottage industry has developed on playing off of lawyers’ egos and insecurities….  Joseph andrew, global chairman of 8,000-lawyer law firm dentons [says] “if you’re the world’s largest law firm, you want to make sure you’ve won more awards than anyone else.”

I do not mean to offend others who have sought for or achieved recognition. But at this point, I seriously hope that my resume never reads: “super lawyer”, “best lawyer”, or “who’s who legal.” I do hope that my clients are ok with that, as well as not being billed for whatever pay-to-play recognition.

I relate most to one in-house attorney mentioned in the WSJ article who “didn’t care about rankings [and] hires lawyers who show an interest in the industry and can serve as an extension of the company, qualities he says that can’t be ascertained in a lawyer directory.”

I’ll plan on working towards that. In my twist on Aesop, the attorney that fits that description is the eagle [caaaw! chicky burp].