If one old lawyer and one young lawyer were drowning, and you could only save one, would you go to lunch or read the paper? It might surprise you, but law students enjoy lawyer jokes even more than the average person. The main reason that lawyer jokes are so popular is pretty simple: A lot of people don't like attorneys very much. This certainly isn't a new trend. Even one of Shakespeare's characters in "Henry VI" thought that "the first thing we should do is kill all the lawyers." There are many reasons for the apparent lack of love for the legal profession, but one that often gets overlooked is the lawyers' monopoly on understanding the law.

While today you might not be worried that you don't understand the law, someday that will change. Because the law is suddenly going to have a huge impact on your life the minute you get into financial trouble, buy a house, get in a car accident, get fired from your job or get divorced. And that's when the problems start.

When people get screwed by a lawyer, it's generally during one of the most stressful times in their lives. Suddenly a huge part of your future depends on a legal outcome and you have no idea what your rights and responsibilities are, so you wind up having to trust a lawyer entirely. Which, in most cases, is fine because, believe it or not, most lawyers are decent people. Of course, some are not, and when you have to put blind trust into someone who turns out to be dishonest, that's when the problems start and the somewhat justifiable hatred of lawyers begins.

Of course one way to help avoid this kind of problem is to actually understand some of the very basic aspects of the law that affect you. The fundamental concepts of negligence (what you sue for in most car accidents, dog bites, etc.), community property (who owns what when you get married), and the First Amendment (when you have free speech, and when you don't) are not beyond comprehension for the average person, much less the average college-educated person. It's not that after spending a few hours learning about the law you'll be able to start defending cases on your own. But you could learn (1) that in some situations you could have to pay for a car accident even if the other driver was speeding and you weren't, (2) that you can't really marry someone, divorce him a month later, and take half his money, and (3) that when you're ordering a burrito at Chipotle, you pretty much don't have any right to free speech at all.

The truth is that people who know even a little bit about cars are much less likely to get screwed by a mechanic. In the same way, people who know even a little bit about the law are less likely to get screwed by a lawyer. Which could be important, seeing as the worst-case scenario at the mechanic is losing a car, while the worst-case scenario with a lawyer could be losing your house, your business, custody of your children, or even your freedom.

The Nolo company and many others make materials that are designed to help everyday people understand the law. They are certainly no substitute for having a lawyer on your side, but they will help you understand a bit about what's happening. And that will help you know the right questions to ask to make sure you're being treated fairly.

One of the most common reasons people dislike lawyers is the amount of power they seem to have. A lot of that power comes from them knowing the law better everyone else, and the first step in taking back control is gaining some of that knowledge for yourself.

On the other hand, if you're actually angry because every lawyer you know seems to drive a better car than you, there's not much I can do to help.

Matt Gray is a second-year law student. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.