Golem, “Gollum”, Gone: The Lost Honor of the Legal Profession

David Barnhizer, Cleveland State University College of Law

Abstract

The golem is the stick and mud figure of folklore created to protect Jews from the abuses of Hungarian society in the 16th Century. But ultimately the powerful creature had to be destroyed because it lacked a soul and had no moral core to regulate its behavior and became a danger to those it was constructed to protect. Most people may be more familiar with the concept of the golem than they realize. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s book, The Hobbit, and the subsequent Ring Trilogy, the sad creature who relentlessly pursued Frodo to recover his “Precious” ring of power continually muttered “gollum” to the extent that Frodo began to refer to him in that way. The ring Gollum called “his Precious” was linked to the Dark Lord, and its use affected those who activated it to such a degree that it seduced them and stole their souls.

As the members of the legal profession increasingly abandon the anchoring moral principles of justice, fairness and client loyalty in pursuit of the “golden ring” of financial rewards, power and self-aggrandizement they have become little more than golem, powerful but soulless creatures without any sense of principle and honor. The preservation of the profession’s anchoring principles, including the responsibility to advance justice through law and its institutions, is far more important than could ever be conceived by those who treat the practice of law as nothing more than another free market business activity. It is those grounding principles that provide the foundation for a system of professional honor without which a profession is no more than a guild designed to preserve its power and profits while hiding behind deceptions and arcane mysteries like the Wizard of Oz.