Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!pyramid!hplabs!ucbvax!UOFT01.BITNET!ASPDMM From: ASPDMM@UOFT01.BITNET.UUCP Newsgroups: mod.legal Subject: BITNET mail follows Message-ID: <8607171214.ae23797@SEM.BRL.ARPA> Date: Wed, 16-Jul-86 15:33:00 EDT Article-I.D.: SEM.8607171214.ae23797 Posted: Wed Jul 16 15:33:00 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 17-Jul-86 23:44:11 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 60 Approved: info-law@brl.arpa I'm not personally familiar with the group HALT, and I'm not a lawyer - YET. However, I do have some feelings about those groups and I think I can speak for at least some members of the legal profession. The typical attitude the public bears toward lawyers is captured most effectively in a recent editorial by James Kirkpatrick (or is is Kilpatrick?). At any rate, speaking about the proposed Tort Reform legislation, he stated simply that the law needed to be changed, that lawyers were scum because they didn't want it changed, and that all lawyers were sitting around lining their pockets with the blood money of hapless injury clients. It would have been nice to hear what specifically needed to be changed, or why specifically the American Trial Lawyers Association objected to the legislation, but he stuck strictly to an ad hominum attack. I see not even a basis for a cogent argument there. Still, I suspect that 90% of all non-lawyers you might care to ask would agree, without anything more than a vague understanding why. It is roughly equivalent to blaming the undertaker because your loved one has died. Shakespeare once said, in Richard III I believe, "the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers"... and the Richard III mentality is still prevalent. I also object to the feeling that lawyers are responsible for the laws they work with. It would be just as sensible to blame doctors treating cancer patients for having created cancer. Lawyers work with law as it is, not as they wish it were. It is the duty of the citizenry to abolish those laws they find repugnant and enforce those they find agreeable. It is the job of the legal system to discern the intent of statutes and practice accordingly. If you want to reform the legal system, start with the law, not the legal profession. Finally, the entire legal profession, like any other, is subject to the pressures of those it serves. I am not saying that lawyers are blameless in the "legal tyranny" which darkens the profession. I do think, however, that it is encumbent upon every citizen to be informed about the law and work within it, or to refrain from participating entirely. Yes, that means that I would object to my considered vote in the electorate being cancelled out by someone who exercises the random method. Don't get me wrong, I am not directing that statement at you, but there are people whose knowledge of the workings of their government, including the law, is so dismal that, literally, they should be prevented from voting. P.S. If you get the idea I'm trying to stir up some discussion on this topic, you are right.