Michael Waldman why lawyers are reviled.

Question: Why lawyers Get a Bad Rap

Michael Waldman:  Well we have a lot of lawyers running around, and there’s been a quite substantial effort over the years by conservatives and businesses too, to point out the abuses as they see it, or the excesses of the legal system.  But the interesting thing is most people, when it comes to their own life, they are perfectly happy to get a lawyer and they’re not as susceptible to all those arguments.  I laugh at the example of Robert Bork who was one of the loudest voices about the abuses of the legal system.  He fell of a lectern last year giving a speech, and I believe he filed a lawsuit against the place that was giving the speech.  You know withdraw that, because I don’t want to say something-- I’m pretty sure that’s true, but I don’t want to get you in liable trouble. Let me answer it in a different way. People don’t like litigation.  They don’t like paperwork.  They don’t like legalisms.  But when they’re in trouble or someone they know is in trouble, they understand the importance of law, and even occasionally, of lawyers.