“I’m just doing my job, like anyone else”.
In Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt explains how people who commit gruesome and evil acts will try to dissociate from their behaviour as they justify it with external factors. The most common type of dissociation made in the Nuremberg Trials that indicted Nazi War criminals was “I was just doing my job and following orders.” This defense eventually came to be known as “The Nuermberg Defense.”
Luckily, the courts did not find the Nuremberg Defense of any justification or mitigating factor to the crimes of the accused. Those responsible for their crimes had to pay for them and following orders was no excuse.
When we grow into adulthood we choose what we want to do in our lives. We build our principles and ideas as we start experiencing the world of work and the struggles to achieve financial security. The choices that we make are our own and they define us. We choose jobs and careers according to our principles and what makes us excited. Others just choose a profession because, from a Sicilian-village-like perspective, this career will give them a lot of money and power – just like Joe Giglio. Joe Giglio has no principles and morals: in one breath he is attacking a whistleblower who helped uncover one of the biggest corrupt acts by Maltese politicians, and in the next breath proclaims he is fighting for a better Malta with the Opposition. It doesn’t sound right.
Lawyers are undoubtedly essential to the rule of law and the fact that serial killers deserve to have a lawyer and be defended in court is also because it is necessary for the overall operation of justice. Justice should be seen as being done and not just done. Lawyers like Franco Debono and Joe Giglio, have sacrificed their careers and the potential to become rich just by defending the lowest scum of people in Malta for the sake of ensuring that the rule of law in Malta works fine (this was ironic).
We make our choices and our choices define us. Yes, we need criminal lawyers who defend alleged criminals in court, but we don’t need criminal lawyers who defend scum in court while being active in politics. And if you see nothing wrong with doing politics while defending the worst criminal scum in court, that tells you that you are totally unfit for politics.
So, if I choose to spend my career defending scum in court, what does that tell about me? This is a genuine question and not a rhetorical one. These people become criminal lawyers because they are more attracted to the money laundering aspect of their businesses with their clients apart from potentially winning big and difficult cases like murder accusations that can net the lawyer hundreds of thousands if not millions of Europe in fees for that case alone.
You really need to be a psychopath to work as a lawyer for a low-scum criminal whom you know very well that he is guilty even if it is a necessary job for the rule of law. If you like and accept doing that kind of job, then you have traits in your character that may make you a good lawyer but definitely not a good politician and your utility in society should be restricted to as a defender of criminals.
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