Kennedy preaches about having equal pay in the legal profession because he says most people become lawyers because of the money and prestige. I would have to say, so what? If these people are performing well and doing what the clients expect them to do, who is Kennedy to say that they are involved in the law for the wrong reasons? It is like if I am on an operating table and the doctor that is operating on me is only a doctor because he gets paid well and likes the prestige that comes with the job, as long as he does his job and does it well it does not matter. I also think that if the people that are there for the prestige and money do not do a good job then they will be weeded out just like in any other profession.
I would also have to say that making salaries equal is just fostering complacency for everyone in that profession. My mother is an elementary school teacher and gets frustrated with their pay scale some times because there are teachers in her school that do not do their job to the best of their ability, but get paid the same as her. I have asked her before, “Are there teachers that are better than you?” she always answers yes. And she thinks that they should be paid more. This would happen in the legal profession also; the lawyers that do just enough to get by would make the same as the good lawyers which would eventually bring everyone’s job performance down.
I completely agree with you. If you are good at what you do then why the hell does it matter if you do it for the prestige or money? I got knee surgery just before school started back up. I could give a damn if that guy was a surgeon for the money. He fixed me up just fine, and I'm walking and running without pain in my knee.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above post. I also got surgery over the summer and I wasn't thinking about how much money my doctor made I just wanted to make sure he did a good job. The white coat alone gives him prestige but people who aren’t doctors in the hospital also wear white coats. At the end of the day in your job field someone is going to make more money than you in your department. At the time you are at the job of course you are going to care why does your co-worker make more than you. At the end of the day we are going to have to realize that society is unfair and in a hierarchy system you have to earn your way to the top because as you said we just want to make sure the doctor knows what he is doing on the operation table.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the indifference about lawyers' economic motives is a consequence of the fact that we can generally afford their services. Would a lawyer's or a doctor's price become significant if one was unable to pay for their services?
ReplyDeleteI imagine that if one were in jail or heavily fined because one could not afford counsel that the reaction would be the same as if one did not have one's medical needs met because one could not afford a doctor. In both cases, the impression that the financial motive had supplanted the professional motive of providing either legal or medical services would be quite upsetting.
Does anybody else feel like Kennedy is complaining and coming up with useless ways of solving the problem. It is completely insane to have the same salary for everyone. I could care less if the lawyer loves his job or does it for the money. I bet you more than half of the lawyers do it for the money. As long as they do a good job does it matter.
ReplyDelete