Trial Lawyers

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=62365&hl=

This is in response to a guy who posted something ridiculous about how lawyers are the cause of all human suffering:

My response:



Jeez, let's pile on the trial lawyers again...


Full disclosure, I'm taking up for my own kind, here, but here's my .02:


Just so you can get a check?

Would you rather get nothing?

Would you rather multinational corporations be free to commit malfeasance and screw customers out of billions of dollars just because their wrongdoing hurts a large number of plaintiffs a little bit rather than a small number of people a lot?

Speaking generally, and without knowledge or regard to this specific case, Class Action lawsuits are vehicles to bring corporations or other wrong-doers to account for their actions when those actions cause wide-ranging harms to large numbers of people. If someone or some group illegally causes a small amount of harm to a large number of people, their actions are just as culpable as if they had caused great harm to a few people. Surely you agree with that.

But, I gather that your beef is with the Attorney's Fees.

Assuming that a case has merit, Attorney's Fees in civil cases have to represent the expenses, costs, risks, and other factors present in litigating a hugely complicated and possibly moribund lawsuit such as this in order to make it worth the time for someone to pursue the claim. Otherwise, it will go unlitigated as the individual expense to litigate an individual claim will exceed the potential recovery, exonerating a guilty party.


These fees, IF they are awarded, and that's a big if, will likely be spread among a large handful of attorneys that have poured thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars into litigating this case.


In nearly every case, the awards given to the plaintiff's attorneys PALE in comparison to the fees of the defense attorneys. And, those defense attorneys get paid even if the lawsuit is not successful-not the case for the Plaintiff's attorneys.

The life of your average Plaintiff's attorney is far from glamourous, and nearly always far from lucrative. Yes, some plaintiff's attorneys make excellent money, and some win the "legal lottery" if that perfect case walks through the door. But, all but the luckiest attorneys will go an entire career without this happening.

No one seems to ever mind that the defense attorney sitting across the table is making $1000 an hour defending this poor corporation that has attempted to get away with endangering lives or fleecing the public out of our money.

The sad reality is that hugely powerful corporate interests in this country have largely succeeded in convincing the public that our tort system is in crisis. They've done so by distorting the facts surrounding a handful of exceptional cases and demonizing trial lawyers by playing to the American worker's emotions--envy being the foremost. The true reality is that corporate malfeasance continues to go largely unpunished, the American people continue to be misled and unknowingly victimized, and corporate interests continue to take precedence over the well-being of the public.

This is a really big issue, and certainly reasonable people can disagree, but I really hate to read things like this that continue to perpetuate the perception that greedy trial lawyers are taking advantage of the system and hurting the justice system and the public. The reality is quite the opposite in my opinion. Every day, Plaintiff's attorneys are the spokespeople for the voiceless, the afflicted, and the powerless. And they do this job in the face of great personal and financial risk, much more so that the perpetually "righteously-indignated" defense bar.


But that's just my opinion...I could be wrong.