Practicing Law Aloud

Back in the day, lawyers practiced law quietly, minding the business of the law, while sometimes standing up and giving voice to clients, causes, and controversies. But still, we did both quietly. Today, many of us practice aloud. We advertise, broadcast, inhabit the net, and put our mugs on Facebook. We tweet, chirp, and dither. Some of it advances those particular causes, clients, controversies so near and dear to our hearts. Some of it lines our pockets. Some of it gives bar associations and judges heartburn. And much of it speaks to the painful reality that we belong to a consumer society, heavily invested in how much we have, how much we owe, and what we can do to rack it up.

Does anyone out there know of a mute button for lawyers? Or at least, a volume reducer of some sort? How about a toggle that we could flip to switch back and forth between “Good-For-Client” to “Good-For-Me”?

Ambrose Bierce defined noise as a stench in the ear. Practicing law aloud is not felonious, but might be an undefined misdemeanor called undomesticated music. But we are not singers, rarely tap dance, and can’t carry tunes. What’s happened to us? Business; is that it?