Now, don’t get me wrong; some of my best friends are lawyers, even if they don’t necessarily know it. What I am about to say about the legal profession does not apply to them. The problem, you see, is that disease. Like so many ills, it seems to emanate from the good ol’ US of A. And don’t get me wrong again; some of my best friends are Americans and the USA is a country I love, particularly when I’m in Europe. But, just as credit must be given where credit is due, so must blame be laid… And it is lawyers who drive this disease.
Litigation. That’s the name of the virus sweeping our country, our planet even, with all the virulence of swine flu, bird flu, mad cow disease and canary tummy. Turn on your television, and wait for the
adverts. Some minor celebrity will soon be urging you to ‘make a claim! Have you had an accident that wasn’t your fault? Well, if it wasn’t your fault, it must have been someone’s fault, and you (or is that ‘we’?) can make money out of it, by suing someone – anyone! ‘This product may contain nuts’ ‘Caution! This product becomes hot when heated.’ ‘If it rains, this seat may become wet.’ Everywhere you look, there are folk proclaiming that it isn’t their fault – for no other reason “but that a lawyer is somewhere out there just itching to tell you that it is. And we, with our unbridled greed, are only too happy to conspire with them in this contagion. Sue and be damned?
Absolutely.
Stephen Marsden