[woofie11]

I know a lot of lawyers. Most lawyers in law firms are just as unethical just as often as their reputation suggests. There are high-integrity lawyers out there, and if you find one, cling onto them. They're out there, but they're rare.

A much more likely explanation are misaligned incentive structures, combined with a protective guild-like bar organization which lawyers belong to.

[srtjstjsj]

Any professional in a competitive field fakes immense selective pressure to be unethical. It doesn't matter how honest one is, the system will select for the cheater. This goes for lawyers, bicyclists, tradespeople, anywhere where the client or victims of externalities can't verify the quality of the work and hold them accountable.

[woofie11]

I think the "competitive" piece is more important than the "can't verify" piece. I'd add academics, politicians, and executives to that list.

A lot of professions are structured like pyramid schemes, with partner/tenure/presidency/CEO at the top, and crap at the bottom.

On the flip side, my experience is most tradespeople are quite scrupulous, not because I can verify the work, but due to lack of competition. If my handyman takes 30% longer to work, he perhaps makes 30% less money, but life goes on. If an academic misses tenure, or a politician gets knocked out of office, careers end.