Lawyers: Foes and Friends, Enemies and Allies
This is Steven Petrick Posting:
Everyone knows that when a lawyer shows up, it means trouble, and everyone knows that the only (legal) counter to a lawyer is another lawyer.
The fact is that our system of laws and legalities has become so complicated that sooner or later all of us are going to need a lawyer (as noted, to defend ourselves from someone else's lawyer).
Does not mean that all lawyers are bad people intent on making a living by discovering any legal means by which to extract wealth from otherwise honest people (there are such, but few occupational specialties do not have some who work for "the dark side of the force" so to speak), whether directly or indirectly (a sizable fraction of what you pay to purchase almost any product these days is actually part of paying off previous class action judgments, building up the war-chests of companies to face the next class action lawsuit, and modifications to materials as a result of class action lawsuits . . . like that label on every plastic cover over your dry-cleaning that reminds you that the plastic is not a toy but could cause suffocation). Each item is just a small teeny, tiny, insignificant amount, but you pay it for everything you buy, including the services of employees at a McDonalds so that it does add up to a significant part of your overall cost of living. It has been slavered on a bit at a time over decades so you do not notice it, but it is there. It has other indirect costs as, as malpractice insurance has gone up, more and more doctors have left the profession, leaving fewer of them who charge more for their services, and so on. Other effects on health costs are that a company trying to bring a new drug has to build the possible cost of litigation (does not mean that there have not been bad drugs released, if you think not, just google thalidomide for an example of the horrors that a drug approved by the FDA can cause). Lawyers who do class action lawsuits have, however, become infamous for "shopping for juries" (there is an area in Alabama where the locals do not grasp that the money a corporation pays to settle a lawsuit comes back as increased prices on the products, so lawyers looking for a good class-action settlement, read "profit", will do whatever they can to have the court in that area as the venue for their litigation). That is, of course, when they are not shopping for a judge (whether liberal lawyers looking for a liberal judge to rule in their favor, or conservative lawyers looking for a conservative judge for the same reason).
That last brings up the problem of judges gradually accruing to themselves the powers of government, but none of the responsibilities, rather than being the impartial servants of the law they are supposed to be. Maybe I will remark on that another time.
Everyone knows that when a lawyer shows up, it means trouble, and everyone knows that the only (legal) counter to a lawyer is another lawyer.
The fact is that our system of laws and legalities has become so complicated that sooner or later all of us are going to need a lawyer (as noted, to defend ourselves from someone else's lawyer).
Does not mean that all lawyers are bad people intent on making a living by discovering any legal means by which to extract wealth from otherwise honest people (there are such, but few occupational specialties do not have some who work for "the dark side of the force" so to speak), whether directly or indirectly (a sizable fraction of what you pay to purchase almost any product these days is actually part of paying off previous class action judgments, building up the war-chests of companies to face the next class action lawsuit, and modifications to materials as a result of class action lawsuits . . . like that label on every plastic cover over your dry-cleaning that reminds you that the plastic is not a toy but could cause suffocation). Each item is just a small teeny, tiny, insignificant amount, but you pay it for everything you buy, including the services of employees at a McDonalds so that it does add up to a significant part of your overall cost of living. It has been slavered on a bit at a time over decades so you do not notice it, but it is there. It has other indirect costs as, as malpractice insurance has gone up, more and more doctors have left the profession, leaving fewer of them who charge more for their services, and so on. Other effects on health costs are that a company trying to bring a new drug has to build the possible cost of litigation (does not mean that there have not been bad drugs released, if you think not, just google thalidomide for an example of the horrors that a drug approved by the FDA can cause). Lawyers who do class action lawsuits have, however, become infamous for "shopping for juries" (there is an area in Alabama where the locals do not grasp that the money a corporation pays to settle a lawsuit comes back as increased prices on the products, so lawyers looking for a good class-action settlement, read "profit", will do whatever they can to have the court in that area as the venue for their litigation). That is, of course, when they are not shopping for a judge (whether liberal lawyers looking for a liberal judge to rule in their favor, or conservative lawyers looking for a conservative judge for the same reason).
That last brings up the problem of judges gradually accruing to themselves the powers of government, but none of the responsibilities, rather than being the impartial servants of the law they are supposed to be. Maybe I will remark on that another time.
posted by Federation Commander at 3:58 PM
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