Conditions For Working as a Lawyer

Question :

Working as a lawyer could leave a person open to supporting evil and defending it, because the lawyer desires for example, to have the criminal whom he is defending found innocent. So, are such earnings of a lawyer unlawful? And are there Islamic conditions for working as a lawyer?

Answer:

The Arabic word used for the practice of law (Muhamah) comes from to word that means protection (Himayah).

If it is done to protect evil and to defend it, then there is no doubt that it is unlawful, because it involves committing that Allah has prohibited in His Words:
"but do not help one another in sin and transgression."

If the practice of law is in order to protect goodness and to defend it, then it is a praised form of protection which is commanded in the Words of Allah, Most High:
"Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqpwa (virtue, righteousness and piety)."

Based upon this, whoever was preparing himself for that, before taking a particular case, must first look at the case and study it.

If the truth is on the side of the one seeking legal counsel, he may take the case, support the truth and help the one whose case it is.

But if the truth is not with the person seeking legal counsel, then he may also take the case, however the protection here will be the opposite of that which the person seeking legal counsel desires. Meaning he is to protect that person so that he does not do what Allah has forbidden, and does not claim what does not belong to him, or merely to rebuke what he is doing.

This is because the Prophet said:
"Help your brother whether he is an oppressor or oppressed."

They (i.e., the Companions) said: "O Messenger of Allah! This is the one who is oppressed, but how can we help an oppressor?" He said:
"Prevent him from oppression; that is helping him."

If he knows that the one seeking legal counsel is not in the right with his claim, he must advise him, warn him and make him afraid of embarking on this case, and explain to him how his claim is invalid so that he may be convinced and abandon it.