[anatolfz]

That's an excellent link - there's more there if you look around. A lot of those poets are strangely unread these days, when, I think, they might provide some comfort to people.

Someone wrote: "Whenever I read of some new thing, I go to see which ancient writer said it before", or something like that. Probably a conservative.

I've only ever had good experiences with lawyers. Usually when you need a lawyer you need a lawyer, and they can do some pretty powerful things - get your child back, protect you - so it's worth some money, but people envy them the money they make. Hence the anti-lawyer stuff. (And then hysterical lynch mobs don't care for them either.)

[AnAmericanMother]

I think the media has a lot to do with it (reading about the big verdicts, and NEVER reading the follow-up revealing that a motion for new trial or JNOV resulted in a substantial reduction -- there is a system in place for dealing with runaway juries, and it generally works well, except in Alabama, which does not have an effective review of excessive verdicts).

Also, the perception that criminal defense lawyers "get the guy off on a technicality" annoys people. But the system of "war to the knife" and making the State prove its case works much, much better than the Continental system, where the prosecutor, judge and defense counsel are all in cahoots -- much easier for people to get railroaded in that sort of system. Occasionally, just occasionally, somebody looks guilty & isn't, and the English system will uncover that fact. Nobody ever even considers that possiblity in the Continental courts.