Catholics and Trial Lawyers

[LilyM]

LilyM:

I have often thought that regular checks of mental as well as physical wellbeing should be compulsory in professions like law - maybe require them as part of obtaining professional insurance.

In the United States, if you proposed this, you would immediately have a bazillion lawyers filing lawsuits and protesting it as an infringement of their rights.

There is a very, very real probability that legal employers would use the results of these checks as reasons to “lay people off” or “tell people they don’t have a future at this firm” (you pretty much have to commit a felony to get outright fired from a lot of places as they do not want to give you ammo for a lawsuit) and it would deter those who need help from seeking it. Lawyers not seeking help for substance abuse, depression, etc. is a problem the bar has been trying to address for some years and encourage them to get help. Making them pass a compulsory mental check to get insurance is going to have the exact opposite effect.

The flip side is that an employer who is aware of drug, alcohol or other issues that are seriously effecting employees’ job performance, and does nothing about it, runs a risk of being sued for malpractice by a disgruntled client.

It’s a matter of damned if they do and damned if they don’t, and a question of which is the more damning. Especially now litigation, at least in the US, appears to involve increasingly higher stakes for clients.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The flip side is that an employer who is aware of drug, alcohol or other issues that are seriously effecting employees’ job performance, and does nothing about it, runs a risk of being sued for malpractice by a disgruntled client.

Which is why every single US biglaw firm has an Employee Assistance Program. You can ask for help or people can stage some type of intervention if they think someone has a “problem”. The employer is then supposed to help you get help in a non-judgmental way. This protects the firm against the accusation that they did nothing. I would add that lawyers tend to be high -functioning addicts/ abusers and hide their problems, so by the time someone is manifesting signs, they are quite far gone. Also, that everyone who drinks or even “parties” occasionally does not need professional help, except maybe from a confessor.

Virtually every large employer in the USA has a similar “employee assistance” program for some decades now.

With respect to disgruntled clients, at the large firms, most clients are corporate and don’t go suing for malpractice without something way beyond a lawyer with a bad habit. They just change firms. Disgruntled clients happen more often to lawyers working at smaller places or unemployed, and frankly they get disgruntled over a lot of stuff, sometimes fair, sometimes not, and are more likely to enter a bar complaint than sue you.

 

[Quaestor]

My question: can a Catholic be a trial lawyer?

Absolutely. Everyone deserves representation in court. As a lawyer you have a fiduciary duty to do the best for you client every time. EVEN IF YOUR CLIENT IS AS GUILTY AS SIN.

Many trial lawyers are known in the United States’ society as “ambulance chasers”, “slip-and-fall attorneys”, and I’m sure there are other nicknames for this profession.

Every profession has some nicknames not just lawyers. There is nothing morally wrong being an ambulance chaser or a slip and fall attorney as long as you represent you client. Lawyers have to hustle quite a bit and these generally are the lower ring in the food chain.

It seems as if (maybe I’m wrong) many trial lawyers are in their profession exclusively to make money in the most desperate or immoral ways possible. “Pain and suffering”, “faulty products”, “compensation and damages”…while these issues can be true, it seems as if oftentimes they are “get rich quick” schemes.

You are not going to get rich that quickly. You will have to bust your butt 12 to 14 hours a day for 6 or 7 days a week for a few years before you are there as a trial lawyer especially at a larger firm. It will take you 7 to 10 years to have an ownership interest in the partnership. You will being doing almost the same work as one of the paras so while you are in Law School you are going to be familiarizing yourself with the substantive law you might not be as familiar with procedure. So you gotta learn the procedures as a student at law… Practice of law is quite hard work as a Jr. Associate. Don’t expect anything interesting to come your way. This is why 70% of Law School graduate do not practice law.

One only needs to watch 30 seconds worth of commercials on television (or listen on the radio) or drive half a mile down the highway to see a trial lawyer commercial or advertisement.

You gotta hustle to make a buck.

I know friends who are good and honest lawyers and spend their time as legislators, writing wills and contracts, and assessing real estate values. I also know friends who are trial lawyers who, under the guise of “helping people”, seem to sue for just about any reason they can.

A law degree opens many many doors for you. It is perhaps the most useful degree you can have. You want to be a CEO, CFO COO of a fortune 500 company? Get a law degree and pass on the MBA.

 

[Quaestor]

My opinion is that trial lawyers are ruining our society and encouraging people to sue each other instead of working out their problems in a civil manner.

The United States is a litigious society. If you want mediation, it is a cheaper option. Many lawyers acts as mediators or arbitrators between parties when there are disagreements. This is an options especially when family is involved.

Given the modern profession of trial law, can a Catholic be a trial lawyer and remain moral? Or will the nature of the profession cause him to forsake his ethics to make money?

Absolutely go for it! Do the very best job for you clients, be they guilty or innocent. If you are not ethical, you will be disbarred and you may not be able to practice again in your state you might have to move to another and become an ambulance chaser. Lawyers are expected to act ethically always and 95% do. You do not score any points for being an unethical shyster. There is a need for Catholic lawyers. Many poor do not get adequate representation in court, do some pro-bono work once a week.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

JoshuaIsLord would probably forward them to you if you message him.
I’m sorry they got deleted, I like lawyer jokes…also the “engineer goes to hell” one is an old favorite in our household.

 

[Quaestor]

BTW Law school is very hard work. If you are not disciplined and willing to put hours and hours into reading, do not do it. Don’t expect to coast through it. You will have lots of case study and discussions and when you are on the hot seat in class expect a barrage of questions. So read read read. . Don’t expect many test until at the end of the course. Which means that you are going to have to really know you stuff for the one test. Make sure you take part in the mooting, it can be fun.

If you really want to make the money in law, have a physics/mathematics degree and go into patent law or have a medical degree. Also the most successful entrants coming into law school have a physics or mathematics degree (not sure if this is true today).

This is coming from someone who wrote the LSAT on a dare for fun of it, without any preparation or study absolutely nailed the test for which people study for a year to pass.