According to a Colorado Supreme Court justice, there are tons of independent American lawyers but this does not mean that they are renegades in the legal profession and this does not also mean that they practice blind justice. You should not single out trial lawyers when talking about attorney independence since this applies to the entire legal community. Basically, a lawyer needs to give objective, sound legal advice to clients and this is regardless of where you are in the legal profession and community.
There are two notions, conflicting ones, which are part of lawyer independence. In law, there is a lawyer's duty to a client and other people cannot control him or her. You can have a lawyer that delves in government matters, self-interest, other clients, and public opinion.
Lawyers also have another duty and this time it is to the legal system and this is what starts the conflict with the clients. Considering the legal profession, you need both of these notions. Lawyers experience a lot of stress because of this. For a lawyer, he or she can only act independently on behalf of the client and not be the client.
For a lawyer, he or she can only be the mediator. There is no such thing as a shared conscience. By following the rule of law, a lawyer becomes independent.
Of course the lawyer needs to provide the client with objective advice about the case when asked for it and a lawyer should also be able to assist the client within the framework of the law. In the legal community, lawyers are the people who keep their clients out of court as they work towards the best interest of the client.
With regard to political or unpopular cases, you will find plenty of independent lawyers who are willing to work. Considering the criminal defense bar, this is what causes a lot of aggression with the general public. Here is something which regularly affects the legal profession.
You need to take note of another thing in this case. You can say that this is a profession but what you have here is also a business and this is where more conflict arises but when it comes to this, we can say that what we have is a thriving business nonetheless. Here, you will encounter dot.com e-businesses and there are also some lawyers who go into business with their clients.
Taking this into consideration, you need to think about the pressure to include lawyers in multidisciplinary practices, a belief that the law is complex and lawyers spend most of their time in arcane paper shuffling, and lawyer advertising creating the impression a law practice is a business and not a profession and then there is the issue with exorbitant legal fees. Here, the culture of law is actually leading to more problems. And their long hours leave them little time for outside lives and experiences that would broaden their perspectives.
Here is where the core values will not be compromised as long as the profession becomes open to change. What the people here want to do is progress without changing and this is where some of the difficulties will arise on your part. If you want change to be a good thing, see to it that the functions of independence and client confidentiality will remain.