Question Of The Week, 7/23/06
Good morning. I had something planned for this weeks question, but the Internet Goblin seems to have eaten a file I needed to get it posted while I was at work last night. So I had to find something interesting to take it's place. I've met a few attorneys in the past. I even consider some of them to be pretty good friends, but it is one of those professions you have to wonder about. So what do you think? This weeks Question Of The Week is. In general, are trial lawyers more concerned about justice or padding their bank accounts?
I'll post my answer in the Comment Section Monday night.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
I'll post my answer in the Comment Section Monday night.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
posted by David Schantz | 4:38 AM
10 Comments:
I think deep down in side Trial Lawyers actually think that they are doing something good with their lawsuits.
If they make money along the way, they must thing, so much the better.
I have thought very carefully about my answer to this question, since my closest friend is an attorney (his law practice in a small town also resembles that of a medical "general practioner": a little of everything). He is a decent person who lives modestly. Perhaps he prejudices my view. On the other hand, I try to keep informed of events and I know there's a number of truly vile profiteers running about our court system.
So, with this in mind, I wuold say that a slim majority (perhaps 52-55%) are more concerned with the good of the people than with extracting large (and sometimes unethical) profits.
We have too many trial lawyers, and too many of those are writing the laws of our country. We have way, damned, too MANY of them to do any good for our country.
I think your other guests have been much more gracious than I can be. I think the majority of the attorneys are in the business to make money above anything else... anything else. They love to use words such as "reasonable" in every document they write, which opens the doors to challenges to their clients so they will have future opportunities to be put to work to defend their clients in the future, which in itself is reprehensible.
That said, there ARE some good ones and I know a couple of them personally. And I am just repeating what they themselves have told me in case you were interested...
Good question!
There are as many attorneys in Cook County, Ill. than in the entirety of Great Britain. That should bring out the fact that there is a huge surples of attornies here.
One doesn't advertise in the yellow pages for justice. It is done for profit. I understand that is how they make their money but one cannot stand on a pillar of justice while conducting business that way...and it is a business.
I do believe there are many attornies who actually do believe in justice. I haven't met any yet, and I am not being smart-aleck either. I just haven't met any.
The majority of our legislators are lawyers. Do I need to say more?
Wow, that is an interesting story! The name means...nothing.
"In general, are trial lawyers more concerned about justice or padding their bank accounts?"
I don't know any lawyers on a personal basis, and I've watched way too many t.v./movie lawyers to entirely trust my own perceptions. But, generally speaking I don't trust lawyers to be looking for justice. It is a defense lawyer's job to get their client off, irregardless of their guilt or innocence. They're not going to win every case, but if they're caught not fully defending someone because they know they're guilty (i.e., not pulling out all the legal stops to get them off), then they are in trouble and could lose their licencse.
In general, are trial lawyers more concerned about justice or padding their bank accounts?
The latter, for the most part. But a few trial lawyers are good people and truly interested in justice.
As far as I'm concerned, most trials are nothing but a show, which is "all about the money." The attorney who wins the trial is often the one with the most tricks up his sleeve.
I'm guessing, David, that you're referring to criminal attorneys. Litigation attorneys are another breed altogether.
"In general, are trial lawyers more concerned about justice or padding their bank accounts?"
Since most offer their services on a contingency basis, I'd have to say they are more interested in padding... Most of them that is... there are a few good honest lawyers... but they tend not to be ambulance chasers, etc.
I want to thank all of you for stopping by to answer this weeks question."In general,are trial lawyers more concerned about justice or padding their bank accounts?" Like I said, I know some, and even consider them as friends.Most of the time one of them seems to be able to get his client off the hook no matter what they have done. No matter what it cost his client or the public. If one of the others that I know is aware of the fact that his client has broken the law he will tell them that they will have to pay a penalty. He also tells them that he will try his best to get the judge to go easy on them. He has also been known to let a client slide if he knows they cannot afford to pay for his services. In the past I have mentioned working for a carnival when I was younger. I found out what one of my co-workers had done for a living before he took up a life on the road. He was a successful cooperate attorney. He protected big business from the little guy, you and I. He said that some of the deals he made in the court room and in the back rooms made him feel lower than a slug. One day he gave it all up and took of hitch hiking. I met up with him in a laundry mat and got him a job working rides on the carnival. As far as I know he never went back to his past profession. Another lawyer I knew past away a few years ago. He worked for an insurance company. He once ask me what you called it when a buss load of lawyers crashed through a guard rail and went off a 500 foot cliff? His answer, "A good start". Back to my answer. Just like any other profession, there are good lawyers that want to see to it that justice is served, and bad lawyers that are more concerned about their bank accounts. If there was ever a profession created to be a place where the corrupt and greedy would feel at home this would be it. The bad far out weigh the good. Most of them are there to pad their bank accounts.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Hope I'm not too late. I think lawyers in general are more concerned with their own prestige and wealth than with the "scales of justice." But to be fair, most of them probably chose a career in law with noble intentions, and just got corrupted over the years.
Trial lawyers have one advantage in my book: They only get paid if they win their cases, so they're constantly "hungry." I have more respect for them than corporate lawyers who just sit there "earning" their $500 an hour.
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