( 7 reviews )
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Posted: Apr 4 2008
Rule of Lawyers is more relevant now that when it was published. Several of the Mississippi attorneys, subjects in this book, have been indicted and convicted of judicial bribery along with several judges.
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Posted: Nov 14 2007
Though the case studies (tobacco, guns, etc.) are a bit dated by 2007 standards, Walter Olson's RULE OF LAWYERS is a well-argued brief against the emerging and somewhat untrammeled power of a well-heeled plaintiff and personal injury bar. His thesis is that this group has become another de facto branch of government, without many of the checks and balances to which the other three are subject. Further, the personal injury bar applies one standard to government and businesses, but a much more "relaxed" and forgiving standard to itself when it comes to disclosure, transparency, conflicts of interest, responsibility for erroneous decisions, etc. If you view yourself as a conservative or tort reformer, this book will resonate for you. If you view yourself as a liberal or a business reformer, the argument will be unpersuasive. In characteristic fashion, Olson crafts his arguments persuasively and presents a compelling brief that is long on indictment but thin on remedies.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 26 2007
Walter Olson, as other reviewers have noted, is biased. He is a pro-business conservative who works for pro-business causes. This book, as other reviewers have noted, does not address the corrupt nature of corporations or their lack of accountability to the consumer. On the other hand, those points have nothing to do with his thesis: that a small elite of plantiff trial lawyers, using government influence and sloppy law, have turned the civil justice system of the United States into a gigantic blackmail machine for their own enrichment. Olson supports this thesis with chapter after devastating chapter showing how nepotism, abuse of class action, junk science, the triumph of emotion over fact, and above all the ability to sue without any grounds whatever without any consequences have destroyed justice in the civil system. Olsen offers several solutions to these abuses. He proposes instituting European standards for civil suits- that is, the loser pays all the winner's legal costs. He proposes a ban on percentage-of-settlement contingency fees. He proposes massive class action tort reform- under the current system class action lawyers win massive payoffs while their clients, who generally don't even KNOW they're clients, at most get a coupon for a product they no longer want. Most of all, he calls on his readers to be aware of the issues of tort reform in the political arena- an awareness made all the more necessary by the prevalence of trial lawyers in legislative office and the massive campaign donations trial lawyers give to establishment officials. Don't take everything in this book as gospel, and certainly question Olson's bias. Even after doing so, the simple facts in the book demonstrate beyond doubt that corrupt lawyers not only use the system to their own advantage, but in so doing endanger the freedom of all Americans- particularly the freedom from judicial extortion.
