This country has seen far too many cases of open dishonesty on the part of lawyers with little or no consequences. This particularly applies in class-action lawsuits. Perhaps the best example of this is the silicone breast implant scam. There was no correlation ever shown between these implants and connective tissue disease. Actually, the leading medical experts from Mayo, Johns Hopkins and Harvard went on record saying these implants were safe. There was a crusade by some women to have them banned. The FDA cooperated and ordered them pulled from the market. Most nations around the globe listened to the experts rather than to lawyers and the product remained on the market around the globe. Indeed, now, after the damage is done, the FDA has very quietly reversed its position. However, the lawyers have made quite literally billions of dollars, two companies were driven to bankruptcy and several others significantly damaged, jobs and pensions wiped out, communities destroyed, etc. All this so that the lawyers could make a lot of money and to hell with the damages done.

We are still seeing lawyers sue for tobacco caused illness, even after the 'settlement.' These lawyers stand up with a straight face and lie - "My client did not know that cigarettes could cut short his life." Witnesses are not allowed to perjure themselves, but lawyer’s lying is accepted as a part of ‘representing their client.’ Is there anyone on this board who did not know, many years ago, that smoking kills?

When found out and prosecuted, and that rarely happens, penalties are absurdly lenient. Melvin Weiss of the firm Milberg Weiss got 30 months in a Federal ‘country club’ prison for defrauding the courts in several shareholder administration lawsuits. This was for one case – in which the court determined that he made 9.8 million illegitimately in only one of his many cases. The firm had made billions as the dominant firm in shareholder litigation. His partner in all this, In congressional testimony William Lerach, pled guilty and further said this systemic dishonesty is an ‘industry practice,’ as Mr. Lerach himself stated, this dishonest practice a clear and present threat to our economy is going unaddressed by Congress.” That is not surprising given that Congress is for the most part made up of lawyers and the bar is the largest contributor to Democrats.

I can go on and on, (lock up Dickie Scruggs on the net) but the problem is reasonably clear:

1. We have for too many lawyers in this country. For most of us the only reason to hire a lawyer is to protect yourself from another lawyer Lawyers are, in academic terms, parasites. They do not add to the net worth of the country, but only facilitate the transfer of wealth from one individual to another, or company-to-company. They produce nothing, they do not provide any essential services and they lay a heavy tax on those of us who do those things.
2. We need to reduce the number of lawyers in his economy. Having accepted the truth that lawyers are economic parasites, we need to reduce the number of them.
a. First, we need to reduce the numbers of lawyers entering our society. This will require closing of every state law school and the revocation of GI bill support for education to become a lawyer.
b. We need to reinvest the monies saved in professions that we need – such as engineering, nursing and education of physicians.
3. We need to minimize the incentives for lying.
a. Law firms may represent clients in one and only one state. Firms trying to represent the entire US from locations such as Mississippi and Wyoming must be eliminated. (See the 10th amendment)
b. Penalties for misrepresentation to the court in a civil suit must be a minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in a high security prison.
c. As others have suggested, loser pays, including the lawyer the law firm and all partners representing the loser, must be made to happen. This must include all assets: including those in the spouse or children’s names. We’ve all seen the ads for law firms saying that they will collect everything including college trust funds. Let us know apply that requirement to attorneys who represent an illegitimate claim.
Is this enough to put the US legal system back on track? I suspect not. As long as firms can advertise, “Birth defect, you will collect – no one needs to be at fault. ” This advertisement meets ABA standards – what more need I say. The ABA believes that misrepresenting facts in a civil trial is perfectly fine.

Just my HO