Says U.K. Justice Secretary Jack Straw [Times Online] The context is a dust-up over high fees paid to appointed defense counsel: “Ten QCs were paid more than £500,000, with the highest on £928,000.”
New at Point of Law
Things you’re missing if you’re not following my other site:
- Rick Esenberg on health care reform and the Constitution (with Mark Steyn link, no less). And Peggy Little on shifting views of state AGs’ role;
- A first: attorneys nailed in asbestos fraud (more: Law.com)
- Jonathan Wilson: Georgia high court strikes down medical malpractice damages cap, while upholding offer of judgment rule and emergency room liability standard.
- “That nice Mr. Smith does not have to pay this personally, does he?” Jurors and insurance;
- James Copland on the friends of Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid;
- Lawyers up, lobbyists down, which creates opportunities for arbitrage in D.C.
One too many causes of death?
A woman’s lawsuit charges that the death of her 77-year-old husband was the “direct and proximate result” of his slip and fall 21 months earlier on an “unnatural accumulation of ice” in front of a Trader Joe’s supermarket. A newspaper article last year describes the man as having fought a “courageous battle with cancer” before his death. [Josh Stockinger, Batavia (Ill.) Daily Herald]
Attorney’s fee spin cycle
Judge Posner caustically dispatches a fee request following the failure of a putative class action over alleged defects in Sears’ Kenmore clothes dryers [AmLaw]
IIPA vs. open-source software
A reminder from Ken at Popehat: “Every time you hum to yourself, you’re taking bread from the mouths of musicians.”
Dept. of Irony
A judge finds that Wisconsin’s anti-bias agency, the Equal Rights Division, discriminated against a longtime employee [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
“Delaware judge dumps frequent filer plaintiff attorneys”
“When forced to defend their conduct and leadership role, original plaintiffs’ counsel approached the concept of candor to the tribunal as if attempting to sell me a used car,” wrote Vice Chancellor Travis Laster, ordering the replacement of shareholder lawyers in a case against Revlon Inc. “The lawsuit was consolidated from several complaints brought by law firms that Laster describes as ‘frequent filers’ — firms which often file cases on behalf of shareholders, sometimes within in minutes of a deal being announced.” [Reuters] More: Dave Hoffman, Concurring Opinions.
The unsustainable economics of legal education
Maimon Schwarzschild at Right Coast has some thoughts.
Pattis on “The Rule of Lawyers”
Premier criminal defense blogger Norm Pattis takes a look at my 2003 book on mass litigation and agrees with much of what I have to say, while still winding up with a feeling of “ambivalence.” A sample:
I end where I started. Lawyers have too much power. We play with the lives of others with impunity. I think Olson’s on to something.
I await his next book, and encourage him to take a look at the lives or ordinary lawyers. Not all of us own jets. I’m thrilled with first class on the few times I’ve tried it. Most often I fly coach.
Whole thing here.
Afraid of baby slings
The Consumer Product Safety Commission considers them a hazardous product [Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids]