Steve and Bert,

You're right in all the things you say lawyers do. You can't, however, ignore the other side of the coin. It's lawyers who have created the litigious "blame somebody" mentality that has run insurance rates to astronomical levels. It's lawyers who have made it difficult or impossible for schools to take kids on field trips (parents are afraid to have the little darlings in their cars) and companies charging their customers the millions they have to spend protecting themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

We had a case here in Windsor in which a young German man, living illegally in Canada because he had overstayed his visa by months, went to the birthday party of a coworker at the pizza place where he worked. The party, which started late at night after the pizza joint closed, was held in a city park beside the Detroit River. The "victim" proceeded to get roaring drunk and obnoxious, then walked out on a small pier, climbed up on the railing, ignored the No Diving sign and dived into the shallow water. He hit bottom, broke his neck and wound up a quadraplegic. One of the most high-profile lawyers in Canada took his case to court claiming his coworkers were negligent for not stopping him and the city was negligent for not erecting better barriers.

I — and I'd venture a lot of other people — will have a lot more respect for your profession when you guys rein in the jerks who file that kind of lawsuit. And need I mention the stupid woman who put a cup of coffee in her lap and then sued McDonald's because it was hot?

I spent years covering courts for newspaper and I knew a lot of lawyers. Like any other profession, there are some great people and there are lots of sleazy shits. I think a little better policing by the bar assocations might go a long way toward improving lawers' public image.

cheers,

david