I think the legal profession is getting somewhat corrupted. When

Hear now the words of Mike Leach, spoken with the wry clarity of one who had seen the strange paradox of human institutions: “I think the legal profession is getting somewhat corrupted. When it comes to lawyers, I think it’s kind of a Catch-22. On one hand, there’s so much process, procedure and mess caused by the legal profession. But on the other hand, the only way to sort through all that process, procedure and mess is through the legal profession.” This is no idle complaint, but a reflection on the irony of justice itself: that the very hands which weave the knots are also the hands required to untie them.

The meaning lies in the dual nature of the law. It is both shield and snare. The legal profession, created to safeguard fairness and order, too often multiplies rules, rituals, and procedures until the spirit of justice is lost in the maze. Yet, in cruel irony, only those trained in this labyrinth—lawyers—can guide the lost back to clarity. Thus the law becomes self-perpetuating: it complicates and then sells the key to its own complications. This is the Catch-22 Leach names, the cycle that cannot be escaped except through the very means that sustains it.

History offers us a mirror in the tale of the Byzantine Empire, whose courts became famed for their endless legal codes and intricate decrees. So vast and tangled were their laws that even the most learned men despaired of grasping them fully. Yet the empire could not do without its judges and advocates, for without them the system collapsed into chaos. This burden of endless process sustained the empire for centuries, but it also hollowed its spirit, until law served itself more than the people. Mike Leach’s words echo this same warning—that when the profession becomes entangled with its own machinery, corruption seeps in.

The word corrupted does not mean wholly destroyed, but bent from its true purpose. The law was meant to serve justice, yet when procedure is exalted above fairness, and when victory matters more than truth, the profession loses its soul. And yet, who else but the lawyer can protect the weak against the powerful? Who else but the advocate can wield the language of courts on behalf of those with no voice? The paradox remains: the system breeds confusion, but without those within it, no clarity can be found.

The lesson is carved upon the heart: do not mistake procedure for justice, nor confuse process with truth. Honor the necessity of the legal profession, but guard it against excess and corruption. Let lawyers remember that their calling is not merely to win, but to serve justice; not merely to navigate the labyrinth, but to simplify it for others. For when a profession exists only to feed its own complexity, it ceases to be noble and becomes self-serving.

What then must we do? As citizens, we must demand reform that strips away needless entanglements, that places justice above ritual. Support leaders who call for transparency and fairness, rather than those who profit from the confusion of the courts. Seek simplicity in the law, so that truth may be seen clearly without endless mediation. And in your own dealings, strive for clarity and fairness rather than hiding behind complexity to gain advantage.

And to those who walk the path of the lawyer: take this paradox as both burden and calling. You may be both the cause of the mess and its cure. Choose to be the cure. Use your training not to ensnare but to liberate, not to confuse but to clarify. Let your profession rise again to its highest calling: to defend the helpless, to expose the corrupt, to make justice accessible rather than hidden behind walls of procedure.

Thus, remember the words of Mike Leach: the legal profession is both problem and solution, a Catch-22 that must be faced with honesty. Let us not despair at this irony, but let it sharpen our vigilance. For justice has always been fragile, yet it can be preserved if those entrusted with the law remember that their highest duty is not to the letter, but to the spirit of truth.