What makes this remarkable is that it appears in the the ABA Journal , the publication that’s long touted the demand for work/life balance and faux legal rebels, who have “earned” their stripes by buying a first generation iPad and set up shop next to a vente latte.  Still, when is the last time anyone endorsed the notion that the discontent of the Slackoisie might be resolved by a return to professionalism?

William Lee, the co-managing partner of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and former General Electric general counsel Ben Heineman make out their case in an article for the American Lawyer.

“It is now time for a new paradigm for law firm leaders, as past fissures in firms, caused by relentless business pressures, begin to crack open from the earthquake of the Great Recession,” they write.

The idea is outrageous.  A profession grounded in dignity, integrity, excellence rather than unrestrained self-promotion, self-aggrandizement and an anything-for-a-buck mentality.  As Turk noted, the race to the bottom has finally hit the urinal.  Could this finally be the bottom?

Having been assaulted by the shrill screams of “third wave” lawyers cum marketers cum internet rock stars that everything is different now, that the internet changes everything, that every precept of professionalism upon which our responsibility as lawyers to our clients is out the window, and that we’re not only allowed to strut the internet in hot pants, but required to do so or die,  Maybe this new wave is what’s sucked the will out of lawyers to live up to the demands of a profession?

But it won’t be easy. Firm leaders will have to raise the issue in extended discussions with law firm partners, they say. “And some partners will certainly view the ideas expressed here as quaint or, worse, a threat to their autonomy or markets, or civilization as we know it.”

The partnership will have to move away from a mechanistic “eat-what-you-kill” mentality that rewards only top business-getters, they say. Associates should be treated as respected colleagues rather than hourly billing machines “as if they were Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times.” Firms should redefine productivity in a way that serves their clients. And top leaders should set the example, perhaps by taking out less money than they are due.

In the 1980s, as barely educated Wall Street bonus babies were pulling down numbers that shamed top firm partners, refusing to talk to them at parties for their sensible wing-tipped shoes and lack of hand-ticking on their bespoke cashmere blazers, it was driving lawyers absolutely nuts.  How could these scoundrels, learning the trade on a squawk box, come home with checks bearing twice as many zeroes as theirs?  It was shameful.  Something had to be done.  And so devolved the profession of law into a business, as crass and carry as those Masters of the Universe.

From there, it was only a hop, skip and jump for those who never knew a time when law was a profession to exalt work/life balance and pure, unadulterated commercialism, selling themselves like new and improved laundry detergent.  And with this great new medium, where every lawyer with 12 minutes of practice could claim that he was the most experienced, caring and wonderful lawyer ever, ever, ever.

Many can’t conceive of a time when there was intrinsic pride in becoming a member of a learned profession.  Some likely think we wore waistcoats and breeches then.  So quaint and antiquated.  What ignorant dinosaur doesn’t realize that those days are long gone, when there was pride in our work for its own sake.

For me, I was reared by parents steeped in the lessons of the Great Depression and World War II, where the only things no one could ever take from you was your education and integrity.  There was no guarantee of wealth, but an absolute assurance that you would be able to go to sleep at night knowing that you’ve fulfilled your obligations to those who placed their lives in your hands.  It meant more to know that you served a purpose by helping others than that you bought a shiny new toy.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had much nice to say about the ABA Journal, but this article by Debra Cassens Weiss is one of the first things I’ve seen there in a very long time that suggests that there’s still hope for the return to honor of a once noble profession.  Maybe the time has come to stop looking for comfort and succor in all the new places and return to the lost concepts that once made us proud to be lawyers.