"That $1,000 an hour sure does make me look pretty. Now I can go to buy another SUV. Do you think I need more lip gloss?"
Posted on 09/01/2007 4:18:42 PM PDT by shrinkermd
lol!!!!
They haven’t yet!! But, it’s overdue IMHO.
Perhaps you have heard the tale of the town that only had one lawyer. He never made any money until another lawyer moved into town.
You're not paying $1000 an hour for the attorney, you're paying $1000 an hour for the justice system.
Not every attorney can bill @ $1000/hr - just a select few.
The perception of the buyer is that the $1000 attorney can deliver the "justice" system to them on a silver platter - and the perception is not far from the truth...
How much would Michael Vick pay an attorney an hour if said attorney could get him back to where he was with a few dings and scratches to the ol' reputation? Hmmmmmmmm?
Life was better in the USA when lawyers were forbidden to advertise..SSZ
Close all the law schools for ten years...let things sort themselves out
More Government control of Lawyers is in tune with conservative phlosiphy.
Price controls on gasoline should come next.
Are lawyers a market or a monopoly? Can you hire someone to represent you in court who is not a lawyer? Monopolies can charge what they want and aren't subject to market pressure.
There has been plenty of it right here on Free Republic.
Because a lawyer is the larval form of a politician. When they get into office, they keep tweaking the legal system so that in increasing number of our interfaces with government require lawyers to shepherd us through the process. For example, it used to be routine to go through naturalization by yourself. Now everyone needs a lawyer - or bypasses the process by being an illegal.
"That $1,000 an hour sure does make me look pretty. Now I can go to buy another SUV. Do you think I need more lip gloss?"
This might actually be a good idea. Socializing something usually ruins it.
One thing that puzzles me is the millions of people who get 4 year degrees at school.. then don’t take another two years and get a law degree somewhere. Hell even at a crap school online if neccessary. Just to get their foot in the door.
Ya you won’t work at one of these firms unless you have a prestigious degree.. but even if you get table scrap and make 100$ an hour at some lower firm.. that is a lot lot better then working in some corporate job for 17 dollars an hour.
Law School is 3 years (full time day study. Night school is longer).
People don’t (and shouldn’t) go to law schools because they don’t want to be lawyers (depending on the person, it’s either way to hard, or too boring, or both.)
There are not jobs waiting out of law school, except for top tier schools, or top tier graduates. Top 1% can expect over $100k, the average grad struggles to find any job, let alone one that pays what a mid-career city cop of school teacher makes.
Law firms may bill out over $100 per hour for a new lawyer, but they pay only a small fraction of that. $100/hour is $200,000/year, and few lawyers ever reach that, let alone get it when they start.
For most, the immense cost in lost revenue and career advancement, plus the out-of pocket cost for school does not pay off.
Most “successful” lawyers who earn more than a decent living do so in practices that they built themselves, not by going out and getting a job.
I also find it interesting that lawers can bill by the minute, as soon as a phone conversation with them begins you get charged.
Doctors spend countless hours each year speaking to family members, responding to emergency calls in the middle of the night; some real, some bogus.
All for free.
And when you hire a lawyer, and make an appointment, he meets with you at that time. The doctor lets you spend hours waiting past your appointment time, and does not copmpensate you for the waste.
Are lawyers a market or a monopoly? Can you hire someone to represent you in court who is not a lawyer? Monopolies can charge what they want and aren’t subject to market pressure.
And there is ample competition among lawyers. You have lots of choices to hire the ones who aren’t busy, who are hungry for work.
There is LOTS of market pressure on those lawyers.
Socialize law!!
This might actually be a good idea. Socializing something usually ruins it.
Mark
Those boutique fees are just that. They’re expensive, elite, — and rare. Those who pay it do so for the prestige not for the quality of the service. My father once had a corporate client complain that he wasn’t billing at high enough a rate... told him if he wanted the business he’d have to bill over $500 / hour. This was 15 years ago.
Now, plaintiffs attorneys are another matter: would someone please explain to me the logic behind awarding punitive damages to plaintiffs?
Well,
Maybe if doctors didn’t have to spend most of their time documenting oddles of senseless minutia to keep away...
-—LAWYERS-—
then they could actually see you in a more timely fashion.
By the way these free doctors can be found at any county hospital.
Well,
Maybe if doctors didn’t have to spend most of their time documenting oddles of senseless minutia to keep away...
-—LAWYERS-—
then they could actually see you in a more timely fashion.
By the way these free doctors can be found at any county hospital.
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