Some "approximate statistics". The US with ~300 M population, > 1,100,000 lawyers. Japan with ~110 M population, ~100,000 lawyers. Hari-Kiri for US lawyers anyone? Dave_n
Bottom Feeding Lawyers
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BLACKHAWKNJ
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Here in NJ we have an appointed judiciary, back in 1981 one of the state's top lawyers told me "The people who want to become judges are people who couldn't earn a living as lawyers."
This is essentially what I said in my comment in opposition to the proposed imposition on Maryland attorneys of a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement. I pointed out in my comment that a rather significant portion of the disciplinary sanctions imposed on attorneys in Maryland was the result of only two offenses, fraud or misappropriation of funds (in more regular parlance, lying or stealing), actions that an attorney should have learned were wrong to do long before applying to law school.
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31FordA
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I've known many, many lawyers. Some are truly excellent, many are average, and a few are truly horrible. After all this time I know who I would go to for top notch representation in almost any kind of law you can think of. I also know who I hope the other side would end up with as their counsel.
Several lawyers I've known, one of them a truly gifted and respected attorney, ended up going to prison for stealing from their clients. Once I had an attorney, whose client I just testified against, stop me on the way out of court to ask me how to file a motion for their client. As they asked their client was looking at them with an expression that indicated they were thinking "I'm paying you $250 an hour to ask the cop what to do!". The attorney's defense was that they normally didn't do these cases, and they didn't want to ask the ADA for help.
As far as judges being armed, I've got lot's of good armed judges stories. One judge kept a pistol grip 870 on the bench. Another judge, while conducting a family court hearing, flipped out screaming at an attorney and started waiving a loaded revolver around. All that happened to that judge, after the incident made the paper, was to be asked not to do that again. Another judge declared a recess to ask me about getting a membership at my sportsman's club. One judge used to conduct firearms training for the other judges at his private range.
I will say that on balance I've known more really good lawyers and judges than really bad ones. I will also note that in my younger days I was lucky enough to work with some truly stunning female ADA's and PD's. I honestly looked forward to going to court back then.
Several lawyers I've known, one of them a truly gifted and respected attorney, ended up going to prison for stealing from their clients. Once I had an attorney, whose client I just testified against, stop me on the way out of court to ask me how to file a motion for their client. As they asked their client was looking at them with an expression that indicated they were thinking "I'm paying you $250 an hour to ask the cop what to do!". The attorney's defense was that they normally didn't do these cases, and they didn't want to ask the ADA for help.
As far as judges being armed, I've got lot's of good armed judges stories. One judge kept a pistol grip 870 on the bench. Another judge, while conducting a family court hearing, flipped out screaming at an attorney and started waiving a loaded revolver around. All that happened to that judge, after the incident made the paper, was to be asked not to do that again. Another judge declared a recess to ask me about getting a membership at my sportsman's club. One judge used to conduct firearms training for the other judges at his private range.
I will say that on balance I've known more really good lawyers and judges than really bad ones. I will also note that in my younger days I was lucky enough to work with some truly stunning female ADA's and PD's. I honestly looked forward to going to court back then.
One thing I can share from experience is that a lawyer with a good track record who is competent and well known in their area of expertise carries weight.
I worked with over 50 law firms throughout the US, and we knew who the competent opposing counsel was in every state.
We had strategies to deal with them but believe me they got a better result for their clients than someone who hired a no name guy who was going to charge $500.00 to send a plain vanilla letter alleging FDCPA violations demanding the case be dropped, the debt forgiven and tradeline removed from the debtors cbr.
Good legal counsel isn't cheap but in the long run it was cost effective.
I worked with over 50 law firms throughout the US, and we knew who the competent opposing counsel was in every state.
We had strategies to deal with them but believe me they got a better result for their clients than someone who hired a no name guy who was going to charge $500.00 to send a plain vanilla letter alleging FDCPA violations demanding the case be dropped, the debt forgiven and tradeline removed from the debtors cbr.
Good legal counsel isn't cheap but in the long run it was cost effective.
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I was in grad school (criminology) when that happened. When I mentioned that in class, the students all cheered.
ETA: after reading some of the other posts, I'd been debating between law school and grad school in some other subject. Then the local major newspaper did a survey of lawyers in the MSA. The average from legal work was $14K a year. We had some white shoe law firms where the associates made a hell of a lot more than that, so some folks were really hard up. I made about 1.5 times that as a machinist.
While I found Constitutional Law fascinating, the nit picking in SCOTUS decisions could be beyond belief.
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