A good lawyer is someone

Un bon avocat est quelqu'un

believes in the truth
honest, studious, succesful
who can argue their case well and has a good sense of justice
who can speak well, who can present information logically, coherently, and forcefully, and is honestly devoted to the case of his client.
who cares about his client more than about justice.
who does his best for the client
who does what his client tells him to do
who does whatever he is hired for
who either upholds the law, or is good at winning cases that don't necessarily have a moral advantage.
who fights for what's right without trying to cheat people out of money for personal gain.
who has the talent in public-speaking
who is cunning, logical.
who is fair and just
who possesses extensive legal knowledge and oratorial skills
who takes on cases to help people and not take advantage of them
who upkeeps the law.
who wins their cases.
who wins, who understands the law

de juste et de partial
de menteur
défend, sauve le plus faible, impitoyable
qui a une morale, qui défend avec conviction ses clients
qui défend le faible et l'opprimé sait refuser les clients contre sa moralité
qui défend son client avec conviction, qui est certaines valeurs et qui les respecte meme si son travail est dure.
qui défend son client que s'il est innocent!
qui défend son client à la recherche de la justice.
qui est partial, défend
qui fait ce qu'il doit faire
qui parle beaucoup.
qui prend à coeur les intérêts de son client pour le faire gagner
qui s'intéresse vraiment à son client et pas à son argent.
qui sait convaincre en disant la vérité
qui sait plaider, qui croit son client

Discussion

Good lawyer vs Good person

Would you agree that American responses concentrated on his skill as a lawyer and his ability to win cases and do what's best for the client.
Whereas the french responses were about the lawyer being a good man. Why do you think that is?

Good

While I did notice that difference as well, I suspect that has to do with language. In English, one uses good to mean both "skilled" and "well behaved/not evil". Hence, people wrote answers for either meaning. Can "bon" mean "skilled" in this context?

snakes

Americans tend not to like lawyers very much, and we usually think of them as more bloodthirsty than compassionate. So when we think of a good lawyer, we're only thinking of an effective lawyer, who does his job at all costs. Do the French have a similarly grim view of lawyers?

rжponse Я Paul

Oui, "bon" signifie compжtent comme le mot "skilled". mais bon avocat inclut Я la fois des connaissances juridiques, oratoires et relationnelles...

Lawyer's Pay

Most lawyers in the US are paid by the hour, not based on the results of the case. The ones who are paid by the resulting damage rewards are often the ones you see on TV and are often unsrupulous. However, even those that are paid by the hour can be unscrupulous. They can extend cases unnecessarily and rack up unnecessary hours, or even falsify hours, so an hourly system, it just reduces the number of lawyers trying to get rich quick on big settlements. Most of the lawyers I know are honest and work hard, though they are often a bit disenchanted - the laws are pretty rigid sometimes and they must be very attentive to avoid leaving holes in their arguments that the less scrupulous lawyers are fond of finding and using to distort the system.

connotation of the phrase

I think it's also worth noting that this phrase, independent of it's literal meaning, has a connotation of it's own. There is rarely a television criminal arrested who does not profess to have "a good lawyer" who will get him off. That's what I first thought of when I saw this phrase, and I think it's become a colloquial term that everyone recognizes.

engage