Observers of the legal profession say lawyers are using lawsuits as instruments of social change to govern aspects of life or commerce that elected lawmakers have not seen fit to regulate.
The danger, they say, is that America may have lost its reliance on personal responsibility. Courts have become the key to tapping corporate or insurance coffers to pay for injuries even to those who harm themselves.
Some think lawyers are losing public respect due to the well-publicised and inordinate fees they are raking in from class-action suits, such as the recent $145 billion decision against tobacco companies by a jury in Florida from which the lawyers stand to reap about $48 billion if the verdict stands on appeal.
They note that the Westlaw Directory which bills itself as the premier tool for legal research lists 695 firms and individual lawyers who specialise in suing other lawyers for
malpractice.
Source: Frank J, Murray, Modern-Day Jousters Continue to Battle for Respect, Washington Times, July 17, 2000.
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