TRIMATĖ TEISININKO PROFESIJOS KRIZĖS PROBLEMA
THE CRISIS OF LEGAL PROFESSION AS THREE-DIMENSIONAL PROBLEM

Summary/Abstract: The crisis of legal profession in the global discourse is seen as a three dimensional problem, consisting of changing professionalism values, decline in public opinion of lawyers and lawyer dissatisfaction of profession. The paper analyzes how legal profession in Lithuania was affected by political and economical transformation processes, how professionalism is influenced by changes in the market of legal services and why psychological problems among lawyers are a very common phenomenon. The public opinion surveys show that trust in the national justice systems in Lithuaniais significantly lower in comparison to the 28 EU member states average trust level. Research data also reveals that the adversarial model of lawyering is clearly dominant in Lithuania. Adversarialism primarily manifests itself by often too zealous representation of the client, benefiting of colleagues oversight, error or incompetence, legal interpretation in clients’ favor, which sometimes turns into manipulation by the law. Studies also indicate that psychological problems among lawyers are very common phenomenon. Lawyers are more likely than other professions suffer from depression, addiction and psychological tension witnessing such symptoms as insomnia, loss of appetite or overeating, anxiety, social isolation and reclusion, or even paranoia, leading to abuse of alcohol and drugs

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