Today, however, the decision by an investment bank to underwrite a security no longer represents a sincere institutional judgement that investors should hold a security but rather simply a judgment that investors could be convinced to hold it a price. Just as the failure of lawyers to fill their role as “officers of the court” rather than simply hired gunslingers has diminished our cultures respect for them and the legal system as a whole, the increasingly mercenary attitude of investment banks undermines confidence in the financial system.