tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post3239776763028248027..comments2024-01-25T14:51:13.377-05:00Comments on Gamso - For the Defense: Lawyers, Bucks, and Hot SexJeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-15750440058798133442011-01-10T09:53:35.997-05:002011-01-10T09:53:35.997-05:00The waste is, in fact, astounding. We are awash i...The waste is, in fact, astounding. We are awash in lawyers, and at the same time awash in people who need lawyers and don't have them. We are awash in houses and at the same time awash in homeless and evicted people. But don't get me started on that.<br /><br />Bennett and you are quite right. Just go ahead and go to work on something worthwhile and see where it goes. When the system is as bad as ours is, one thing you can say in its favor is that there is opportunity - lots of room for improvement. <br /><br />But I have to say, at the risk of being a one note Charlie, that the perfidious bench is a large part of why the legal profession has turned to shit. And as far as monetary reward goes, every time they decline to follow the law in your favor they are not only screwing over your client; they are taking something from you that you have justly earned. They're stealing from you. They are thieves. And worse, they are pikers. They do it to protect their silly little position and their silly little robes, trappings that become all the more hollow as they repeatedly soil them.<br /><br />If they started doing their jobs there would be a lot fewer lawyers who were idle, a lot more student loans that were repaid, not to mention a lot more justice in the world. I'm assuming, of course, that you have reconsidered your ridiculous agnosticism on the justice thing.:)John Reganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14174895768769300686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-42557943146964332822011-01-09T23:50:45.528-05:002011-01-09T23:50:45.528-05:00It's a serious need, and it's obviously no...It's a serious need, and it's obviously not well-enough met (not even close) by bar association pro-bono programs and legal aid clinics and major legal aid organizations. It's not just the desperately poor who are victimized. In some ways those who suffer most are the ones who make too much money for services but too little for counsel.<br /><br />But I'm not talking about new agencies or programs. I'm echoing Bennett's suggestion. If you're bitching about not being able to find high-pay, glamor work as a lawyer and either doing legal scut work for 10 or 20 or 30 bucks an hour or you're unhappily scraping along delivering pizzas, why not instead choose to do real legal work helping real people. Do it really well. And charge $40 or $50/hour instead of the $75 or $100 or $125 that even the low-cost, established guys are charging. <br /><br />You won't be taking their work, because your clients are the ones who can't afford to hire them. You'll learn something. You'll perform a real service and help real people. And if you do the job right, you can maybe grow a profitable practice from it and let some other new lawyer take over that niche.Jeff Gamsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-80658250828016289122011-01-09T18:34:35.409-05:002011-01-09T18:34:35.409-05:00Jeff, I don't agree with everything you've...Jeff, I don't agree with everything you've had to say in this post (I would not be as hard on the law schools, and I do not subscribe to your Animal Farm economic view), but I do agree with much of your sentiment, both about the expectations of some law students and about the important need for lawyers to help meet unmet legal needs. Last year, I visited with the Legal Services Corp, and I learned a new term, the "justice gap," and I learned that the gap was even larger and more troubling than I had realized. It would be great to match these temporarily unemployed and underemployed lawyers with clients who need but can't afford legal services. Legal Aid can directly meet only a small part of the justice gap, and many people with serious civil matters end up, not by choice, representing themselves. Not only are these people not necessarily getting justice, but their matters take longer, use more court resources than they should, and contribute to delays for everyone else in the justice system. I'd love to see us develop a way to put all this potential legal talent to good use. <br /><br />Eric BrownEric Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09402110210812650450noreply@blogger.com