I also dislike lawyers as a group but have to admit the only two I ever used were pretty decent guys. They won their case and didn't charge a lot either.
There is one lawyer group that I think are the absolute dregs of society. That group is legal aid.
I have a nephew who was a truly pitiful case. He had been abused by the system and by his ex-wife. She sued him regarding child-support. He had made all his payments and even had pretty good, though not perfect proof. She waited until he could no longer obtain his cancelled checks due to the bank destroying them and went to her local (in another state) child support enforcement office.
Despite the fact that he didn't owe her a cent, that agency and the court would not even allow him to present his evidence. The judge simply told him he had no choice but to enforce the other state's order. He threatened to throw him in jail but finally allowed him 60 days to contact the other state.
This poor fellow was disabled and living in a shack in the woods. He asked legal aid for assistance but they declined, saying it didn't meet their criteria despite his being destitute and having an extremely strong case.
He asked me for assistance and I took him to a lawyer who was kin to both of us. He agreed to take the case for free and commented that legal aid only took PC cases. This lawyer went to court, won the case easily and said the Judge and the local child support office had no business even allowing it in court.
We formerly had our own car and home insurance with them, and we found other insurers and cancelled them out...we advised any friends and family we had about the shoddy treatment we had received at their hands...and many of them also took their insurance business elsewhere...Dont suppose our switching our insurance carriers hurt them any, but it was just the principle of the thing...They are not a 'good neighbor', they are a 'bad neighbor'(hint, hint)...