WHEN LAWYERS GO BAD

New York Post ^ | 6/08/02 | EDWIN MEESE III and PAUL ROSENZWEIG

[kattracks]

June 8, 2002 -- THINK the venture capitalists on Wall Street are good at raising money? They've got nothing on the lawyers who have been cleaning up on the lawsuits the tobacco companies recently settled with the states.

The agreements will provide some of the plaintiffs' attorneys (between 200 and 300 of them) with payments totaling $500 million per year almost in perpetuity. For some, this works out to a payment of more than $100,000 per hour worked.

[bandleader]

Well,We May Very Well Have Adopted English Common Law But In The UK,There Aren't Many "Frivolous"Lawsuits!You Want To Know Why?The Reason Is That" The Loser" Is Resposible For ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!

[doc]

When they accept the concept of getting their client off even if they know they are guilty. When they sue for greed, when they sue for political gains, etc.....

[Freedom4US]

How many other countries have "loser pays" tort system? Or rather, how many other countries have a similar system as the U.S.; I have no knowledge of this, but I'd bet the U.S. is rather unique in this respect. "Do Not Eat Frozen Pizza"

[paul51]

WHEN LAWYERS GO BAD

Sometime between birth and the second year of life

[kcvl]

Scruggs graduated from Ole' Miss law school with Michael Moore. After a stint in Jackson, Mississippi, and New York, he returned to Pascagoula, Mississippi to start a small town law practice. There, he made millions in large class action cases against the asbestos industry and eventually helped to bankrupt that industry. Scruggs' brother-in-law is Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who provided some of the key connections that brought this issue onto the national scene. Scruggs' and Moore have more recently been spending a great deal of time in Washington, D.C., convincing lawmakers to legislate the settlement into law.

[scouse]

Please excuse my tardiness, but I was off line for a few hours.
I agree that there are indeed some people who truly need but cannot afford a lawyer, but that should not mean that lawyers have the right to purloin and plunder the coffers of the hard working taxpeyer.

I would like to see a law passed that mandates ALL lawyers, on passing their bar exams, are required to add a certain number of "Pro Bono" cases to their workload. And I mean exactly "Pro Bono Publico".No fees, no expenses...nothing.

Add that to the loser pays law and you will soon see the frivolous suits disappear. Also it might stop laws being made in the courtrooms of America.

[kettle belly]

If a lawyer can sue a surgeon for damage should the law not allow a defendent to sue the plaintiff's lawyer for bringing unjustified (strategic) litigation. I believe the legal argument against this is that a lawyer should be free to do his best unencumbered by worry but if this is not an important enough argument for a surgeon I do not think it is important enough for a lawyer.

[scouse]

I believe the legal argument against this is that a lawyer should be free to do his best unencumbered by worry

We are supposed to a Nation of Laws, therefore nobody..repeat..nobody should be immune from them. What is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander,

[Freeper]

WHEN LAWYERS GO BAD

At Graduation!

[scholar]

It's been a while so I don't remember, but lawyers do have to do a certain amount of "bro bono" work but surely not enough. I have a friend who still works for a high profile Chicago defense attorney. If I can get any nitty gritty re the "pro bono" process I will pass it along.

[scouse]

Thanks that would be interesting.

[HiTech RedNeck]

pro malo?

[HiTech RedNeck]

What abuot the Institutional Whores you talked about. Britain is a system which is not based on rights, it is based on entitlements granted by the crown. Perhaps there should be provision for loser pays, not "period," but if the winner wins not simply to the preponderance of evidence standard (which could be 51%/49%) but to some higher standard to be set by law.