Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

“Follow the Money”

That’s the title of my “Rule of Law” column in today’s Wall Street Journal. The trial lawyers have now enlisted themselves in the war against terror. One can imagine a parody — a team of wing-tipped attorneys parachuting into the wilds of Afghanistan, armed with subpoenas forcing Osama bin Laden to produce all relevant documents […]

That’s the title of my “Rule of Law” column in today’s Wall Street Journal.

The trial lawyers have now enlisted themselves in the war against terror. One can imagine a parody — a team of wing-tipped attorneys parachuting into the wilds of Afghanistan, armed with subpoenas forcing Osama bin Laden to produce all relevant documents and secure his attendance at a 20-day videotaped deposition (damn the Geneva Conventions against torture). The legal and photocopying bills alone crush al Qaeda.

The reality is more prosaic, and less amusing. For just as Willie Sutton legendarily said he robbed banks “because that’s where the money is,” plaintiffs’ attorneys are weaving creative legal theories to hold legitimate third parties liable for the intentional acts of terrorists. This friendly fire could end up doing almost as much financial damage as the terrorists themselves, with the lawyers getting rich in the process.

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3 Comments

  • I am sent to a page that is for subscribers only.

    • By gunner

  • Hmmm…Osama doesn’t need bombs to destroy America…he just needs to donate money to open more law schools there.

  • That was an excellent article. I was particularly surprised that any court would find greater fault with the NYC port authority for 911 that the actual terrorists. What does that say about the more mundane dispension of justice in our courts?
    b

    [TF: Contemporaneous coverage of 1993 WTC bombing verdict on Overlawyered.]

    • By b