Green Day

Watching video and seeing the pictures of all the brave Iranians wearing green - no small feat - reminds me of how important our legal system is, and despite all of its flaws, how it is clearly the greatest legal system in the world.

And while we can pat ourselves on the back for being great, we should also honor the commitment being made by people who want a greater say in their government. So here are some things that you can do to help:

1. If you are technologically savvy, set up a proxy server to allow the Iranians access to the internet.
2. If this is too hard, you can try a Tor relay.
3. If you use Twitter, set your location to Tehran & your time zone to GMT +3.30. Iranian security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut down Iranians' access to the internet.
4. Keep track of events on message boards like Anonymous Iran.
5. Forward this blog entry to others and ask them to do the same. http://bit.ly/3TfLEN

Remember the Public Enemy song "Countdown to Armageddon," with the line, "This time, the revolution will not be televised"? Sorry Chuck D. Not so. This is one of the first democratic uprisings that you can participate in from half way around the world. If that doesn't get you ready for the Fourth of July, I don't know what will.

The Myth of the Lawsuit

I realize that there are plenty lawyers out there doing their best every day to give our profession a bad name, but in general, I believe that the only thing that stops more lawsuits from being filed are the lawyers themselves.  

When clients come to see lawyers, they are not there because they are happy and content and cuddly.  We get to see people at their worst, when they are scared and injured and angry, and we get to be -- get this -- the voice of reason.

Everyone comes into their lawyer and says the same thing:  It's not about the money, it's about principle.

Which is crap.

It's about the money.  That's the one thing lawsuits can do.  They can transfer money from the person who hurt you into your pocket.  They can do a few other things as well, but chances are, if you're in a lawyer's office, you are or should be wanting the money.

But lots of times, there's no money to be had.  We don't believe we can prove negligence.  Maybe the damages aren't large enough to pursue.  Or maybe they're plenty large, but it's obvious that the other side doesn't have any money.  

Believe it or not, I probably turn down ten lawsuits for any one that I file.  In cases of medical malpractice, it's probably 100 to 1.  Every one of those other clients are loaded for bear, but in the end, they're just going to be frustrated because the initial rush of sticking a lawsuit under someone's nose doesn't last long.  It just gets expensive.  And, quite frankly, many times, you just need to move on.

I don't say this to scare anyone away from talking to a lawyer; quite the contrary. If you avoid the back page of the phone book, you'll generally get an honest answer on whether to proceed or not. But don't expect a rubber stamp; we may protect you from your own injured instincts.  And that's not a bad thing.

At It Again

This week, we heard that the nation's doctors, in the midst of our country's economic strife, are once again sad because they get sued just like anyone else when they do something wrong. They booed when President Obama didn't give them everything they wanted, most notably a national cap on damages, so that people can only recover SOME of their damages when they are injured by a negligent or reckless doctor.

I could write for days about this topic, about how completely ridiculous it is for doctors to even ASK for this, but I'm going to try to make it short, sweet and memorable:

1. It is already harder to sue a doctor than ANYONE ELSE. Many cases that should be brought won't be because it's not economically feasible.

2. Doctors have the right to not settle cases. This is different than with your automobile policy or other types of insurance. So they can convince themselves that they're right, and make legitimate lawsuits cost more than they should for both sides.

3. Most states already have caps on non-economic damages. The doctors just want more.

4. About 5% of doctors cause almost half of malpractice claims. Why? Because the doctors are so worried about anyone telling them what to do that they refuse to adequately police themselves. Until they do so, someone else has to do it, and it gets to be the lawyers.

Contrary to popular belief, no one enjoys suing doctors. To the contrary, it would be nice if they would worry more about practicing medicine and less about practicing law. But they don't need any more help. They already have enough of that.