[lukifer]

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

One shouldn't draw the conclusion that lawyers are evil. Instead, it's a generalized principle: humans find ways to rationalize their participation in any system which awards them wealth and status, whether it's a little or a lot. Some patent attorneys know that patents are bullshit and profit from them anyway (whether on behalf of the trolls or the little guy), many internalize the belief that they are defending genuinely deserved intellectual property rights. There is a tendency for people to look at whether a system does well by themselves and their loved ones, and then work backwards to decide what is just.

(See also: the Banality of Evil.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banality_of_evil