[quote=all][quote=njtosd]People hate lawyers for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that lawyers don’t tend to show up when life is going well. No one wakes up, goes for a hike and then says “this is a great day, I think I’ll call my lawyer.” Instead, lawyers are called when marriages go south, children are arrested, business deals sour or the IRS is looming. None of these are life’s high points. If the outcome is good, people resent having to pay for what they feel they fairly deserved. If you lose, they paid you for nothing. My area of law is a bit different, so it’s more fun.[/quote]
My first-hand experience is different.
There was a rule in the legal immigration process that kind of made little sense. AILA fought (successfully) to add the right to appeal, not to change, or repel the rule.
My former company was involved in a lawsuit with a bigger company. I know we were ‘right’. The process lasted 2+ years, all of the company profits and some more went into that and we dropped it without spending enough to see our day in court.
I thought the lawyers are there to help people navigate the legal system in pursuit of truth and/or justice. I understand now that lawyers care first, second and third about billable hours. It just feels slightly unfair that lawyers get to set the rules of the game they are playing.[/quote]
As I said, people hate lawyers for a number of reasons. I don’t know your circumstance, so I can’t comment. In your case, though, the issue (to me) would not have been truth or justice – although I like those things. The issue was business reality – what were your options and what was the likely cost of each? Settlement sounds like it would have been a better idea, but I don’t know which side you were on or whether that was an option. Sometimes there isn’t a winning option (such as when a company is built on infringing someone else’s IP). Also, competitors know that they can litigate each other to death – big companies do it to small ones all the time.
On a related note, I just noticed that Amazon is (apparently) opening BOOK STORES in malls. After driving Borders out of business and Barnes and Noble to the brink, they are moving in. I’m sure someone will blame the lawyers for that – but business people, in my experience, have the lawyers beat by a mile.
