Lawyering, despite the efforts of those who write the ethics rules, has a conflict of interestbuilt in: what’s good for the client is often the exact opposite of what’s good for the lawyer. And lawyers, being mere mortals, are morally fallible, and they know it.
They have to get past that knowledge if they are going to at least sometimes choose to do what’s best for themselves instead of what’s best for the client. To cope with making that choice, they lie to themselves in order to believe that what’s good for themselvesis in fact what’s best for the client.
Straight cash, homie
Getting paidis the most obvious example. Despite the ethics rules, and regardless of fee structure, most lawyers get paid to do stuff, and the more stuff they do, the more money they make. That leads to the temptation to lead the client to believe that more stuff is needed than really is needed.
Contingency fee cases don’t solve the problem, although lots of attorney advertising suggests that they do. A lawyer looking for a big score might go to trial when a settlement was a better idea. Or vice versa.
Lots of lawyers, driven by their own best interests, are enablers for their clients’ worst instincts. This is particularly true in family court. A lawyer is “doing what the client wants” while draining the client’s bank account, and if there are children, harming them too. Please add your own view. Why lawyers lie

dat is their job