Let's Say Some Nice Things About All the Lawyers

This may be a shocker to some of you -- no, actually it won't shock anyone -- but you might have noticed that we personal injury lawyers are not terribly popular in certain quarters. Oddly enough, most of those quarters tends to be allied with the most wealthy and powerful members of society. Now, we have lawyers and clients at the Law Offices at Burg and Brock that are across the political spectrum, so this is not a left-right issue in our view. However, right now the old "tort reform" drum is being banged around the issue of asbestos.

While we understand that there's no more tempting target for a Wall Street Journal editorial than a personal injury law firm, we can't help but point out that the reason for the high settlements around asbestos is not because lawyers are greedy; it's because asbestos really is very dangerous and its worst effects can take decades to become apparent. As blogger Sergio Munoz puts it, the allegations of "double dipping" are unfair and the allegations of a "scam" are outrageous because it is entirely within the law to sue multiple parties if, in fact, more than one party is responsible for the injury. It's not some nefarious act of legal legerdemain, it's plain common sense.

The constant bashing of the personal injury lawyer is, in our view, nothing more or less than a simple attempt at saving money by large companies. All companies make mistakes and, inevitably, sometimes those mistakes can cause people very real injury. Instead of simply accepting their responsibilities as good corporate citizens and compensating the victims of their mistake, they prefer to hold on to their cash and avoid responsibility. So, tell me again why personal injury lawyers have worse reputations than corporate CEOs who refuse to pay for the injuries they cause?