A lawyer who is em- ployed in a small or mean business, or who carries on a disreputable business by unprincipled or dishonorable means. “We think that the term ‘pettifogging shyster” needed no definition by witnesses before the jury. This combination of epithets, every lawyer and citizen knows, belongs to none but unscrupulous practitioners who disgrace their profession by doing mean work, and resort to sharp practice to do it” Bailey v. Kalamazoo Pub. Co., 40 Mich. 250.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
