I met a 'personal injury' lawyer at an airport bar the other day

apparently, he had the nice house in a nice suburb (of whatever ciy)....and a second house 'down in Marco'....although he had the "nice teeth & all", all I could think of was "scumbag".

Are you stating that all personal injury lawyers are evil? More evil than corporate lawyers?

K&R

We don't know any details about the lawyer. My best friend is working with a personal injury lawyer because the hospital failed to do a common procedure that might have saved his life.

I have no idea what the OP is even about!

Was it that he had nice teeth and hair, or that he was apparently financially well-off? If you hadn't known he was a "personal injury lawyer," would you have formed the same opinion, that he was a "scumbag"? What if he had told you he was a doctor, or an airline pilot, or a business owner? Would he still have been a "scumbag"?

I have met way more "scum bag" business owners.

That said, there are ass holes in every profession, but I think for the most part, people really are decent. :hi:


and, I don't normally announce an un-rec, but I am for this broad brush.

:eyes:

I used to practice law, and I'd often hear the same crap -- lawyers are greedy, slimy, dishonest, blah, blah, blah. Until, of course, something actually happened to the complainer, and then, by God, he was going to hire the toughest, meanest lawyer in town and sue the crap out of whoever had wronged him. And heaven help the lawyer who failed to come through and win this plaintiff a gazillion bucks.

Practice medicine? I wonder where that term comes from?

One of them is "the exercise or pursuit of a profession or occupation." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/practice

quite make it...still practicing.

I suppose we are always "practicing" life until we get it right.

it may be due to medical science is always changing, as are the laws. Education is never ending for either of those professions.

Sometimes you need a mouthpiece, sometimes you need a pit bull.

someone for some devastating injury or wrong doing would it make you feel like a scumbag?

Cheers!

until you need one.

Scumbag personal injury lawyers, always trying to get money for people maimed or killed or poisoned. Victims should just take whatever's offered by the insurance companies and be happy for it.

While there are some personal injury lawyers out there who live up to the reputation of ambulance chasers, many others legitimately work to help people who have been wrongfully injured, and who should be entitled to compensation.

So because this attorney was good at what he did, he was automatically a "scumbag"?

Yeah, he might be a scumbag, but he's my scumbag :evilgrin:

Seriously, if you are ever in a position where you are injured and facing a wealthy corporate opponent that's responsible for your injury, you'll be damn glad those guys and gals are around ;)

You say he apparently has a nice house and a second house. Why did you use the word apparently? You're guessing? Based on what?

Frankly, I read your message and all I can think of is "idiot."

One in which he told you about the bulk of his cases? Were there any kids who were injured by horribly designed toys? How many babies were killed by cheaply made and poorly designed cribs and car seats?

Or is this just plain old lawyer bigotry? Please, explain yourself.

I have a friend who needed an operation on her leg. She was told it would leave a very nasty, very long scar and there was no way her insurance would pay for plastic surgery. She needed to walk, so she had the surgery. The problem being, the doctor operated on the wrong leg! And the insurance company didn't want to pay for unneccesary surgery to the wrong leg!!!

She thanks God for her lawyer. I guess the OP thinks she should have just accepted the hospital bill.

a resident, who couldn't do a simple basic procedure right, caused an internal bleed, then she and her attendings didn't correct it for hours, until it was too late. My friend suffered horribly for nearly a year, including five straight months of hospitalization and then rehab, before finally succumbing. And this was AFTER she'd suffered through and BEATEN cancer. To say that I'm angry is like saying the surface of the sun is burning hot. She had begun her own lawsuit before her death, which her family took up afterwards. The fucking hospital tried to claim that her death didn't mean as much, and therefore they weren't entitled to as much, because she was unmarried and childless. Never mind that she was a very beloved daughter, sister, aunt, niece, friend, and college instructor. She told them right away that they'd done the procedure wrong, that something was wrong, but they refused to listen and ignored her until it was too late. And that fucking doctor graduated her residency and is still practiceing; she shouldn't be allowed within twenty feet of a patient.

I thank God for my friend's lawyer, especially since her state has really tightened up malpractice laws. But they had no trouble finding a doctor to review the records and provide an affidavit, it was a really egregious case. Had she lived in Texas or a couple other states, no matter how egregious, they wouldn't have been able to find an attorney to take it because the preparation costs for the suit would have been more than what they could get.

And, having been in the legal field, I know just how much work goes into even the slightest legal matter, let alone in preparation for these cases. You're talking tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, in upfront costs that the attorney must pay himself before receiving a dime in any payment. And he won't receive a dime if the case isn't settled or won. You could put in months of work and end up not getting paid for it, and be out the tons of money in preparation costs and expenses.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

It seems we are getting more of these lately.

You know, around these parts Geoffry Feiger has a reputation as an arrogant, loudmouth attorney. but if I needed an attorney, I'd rather have an arrogant loudmouth fighting for me as opposed to some meek, I know my place kind of attorney.

I can only imagine what you would think if you saw me. I would feel lucky just to be called "scumbag" I suppose.

That people accused of murder rap and drug dealing really deserve a lawyer... seems like the same, twisted, RWish "logic" to me.

I love my lawyer - my business lawyer, my personal injury lawyer and my real estate lawyer. All of them have helped me and saved me money.

Thank god for lawyers. They are one of the main things keeping big companies in even marginal check. If they go, so do we.

"personal injury" lawyers, and then I'm on their side.

Big company vs. little guy fucked - somehow - by the big company... hmmm.... which one is the good guy?... The one that defends the fucker or the one that defends the fuckee?? Hmmmmm...

I know! I know!

"I met this guy at an airport bar the other day... one of those morons who assumes all lawyers are scumbags. I sure hope he's never injured by a bad doctor or a defective product, because if so he's just going to have to suck it up and live with his loss -- or hire one of us scumbags to keep his sorry self from destitution."

Lawyers are like politicans - some do good for the world and other use their position to do all they can to get rich off the system.

I find it offensive that you think a personnal injury lawyers are out there trying to create lawsuits out of hangnails and papercuts. Have you ever lost a loved one because a hospital failed to do a common procedure that could have saved that person's life? I know of someone and I hope the lawyer is sucessful in his case against the doctor.

I know of several DUers who have dealt with these kinds of lawyers because of horrible accidents that caused a great deal of pain and suffering.

It's shameful you just lump them all together. Shame on you

or -- even better -- have an epiphany that moves you beyond your irrational bias against and broadbrushing of personal injury lawyers.

Making friends and shit!

Even with all the "scumbag personal injury lawyers", how many people are dead or dying of horrible diseases, destitute or nearly so, or both from the invisible hand in and around Prince William Sound and Hinkley?

Oy.

Just keep saying over and over to yourself... "it can never happen to me." And, I certainly do hope for your sake that it doesn't. You might just have to eat your words and you won't be the first person who has had to do that,

I'm not a "post & run" sorta person....just trying to get along like everyone else...just not quite a 'slave' just yet. ;-)

--not only about personal injury lawyers in particular, but about the folly of jumping to conclusions about people based on nothing but some false stereotype with no basis in fact.

At DU you *will* be dogpiled for stuff like that -- better be prepared to back up your statements with facts.

Your logical inconsistency - and lack of evidence of scumbaggery to support your conclusion - is stunning.

By definition a scumbag is somebody that is mean, offensive, dispicable, disgusting. Perhaps you shuld look that up in the disctionary. Since when does having a nice house (or two) or "nice teeth & all" fall within that description? Since when does advocating for injured folks and taking on big corporations and insurance companies fall within that description? Since when does receiving no compensation for your efforts unless your client also gets a financial recovery fall within that description?

I suspect you are either ignorant of what personal injury lawyers really do or you are envious of anyone with a nice house and nice teeth. Or there is a hell of a lot more to your story than what you have related here.

and offer to volunteer a few hours a week? To be sure any work they might have will not be glamorous. But you'll likely learn a lot about our legal system - and the obstacles many face just to be heard in our legal system. It is a system that is clearly biased in favor of the wealthy, the corporations, and the powerful.

Add onto that an underinsured motorist.

I have no love for professional plaintiffs or ambulance chasers, but it's unfair to generalize.

Good luck with that.

But I appreciate your willingness to own up to your own prejudices and re-examine your thinking.

has switched over to personal injury. I'm very thankful for him and he's no scumbag, I guarantee. Maybe that broad brush of yours could use a trim.

I worked for another operation having nothing to do with his actual law practice. The attorney was a really great guy, cared about his employees, very active in the community. Other attorneys daid he was a shark, always putting forth extra effort for his plaintiffs. But, when I saw some of the techniques he used to win his cases, I felt dirty and knew I could not continue to work for him.

I hold not one, but two, law degrees, I'm relatively nice looking and have nice teeth, and own some real estate in nice places. I didn't like private practice, and so spent most of my career working for Uncle Sam in DC and various places overseas. I was actually shot at a couple of times because of it. I was well paid, but I could have made a _lot_ more money; which, frankly, I would have had no idea how to spend. I retired over ten years ago, and I won't be old enough to draw Social Security for several more years.

Oh, and some of my best friends, literally, are personal injury attorneys in private practice.

So, to you, I'm a scumbag because of this?

Heh. Try, for a moment, to imagine my opinion of you . . . .

Thank you to all who have contributed to chastizing me regarding this post which, of course, I regret having made in the first place....but maybe not.....I learned a great deal and that's what it's all about. Learning, growing, changing opinion/bias, etc.

I sincerely apologize to anyone I have offended with my OP.

I also want to thank those who "made me grow in my thinking".

Apology accepted.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704396504576204692878631986.html

Student applications to law schools are down sharply this year, as college seniors grow leery of a degree that promises certain debt and uncertain job prospects.

The number of law-school applicants this year is down 11.5% from a year ago to 66,876, according to the Law School Admission Council Inc. The figure, which is a tally of applications for the fall 2011 class, is the lowest since 2001...

attorneys, who make beaucoup bucks screwing over the little guy to make their rich corporate masters, and themselves, even richer, are just peachy-keen then? But the attorney who DOES try to look out for the average person is a "scumbag"? Ah, okay, I see.

I guess now you know what it's like to be on the other side of "scumbag". Not implying in any way that you are a scumbag. Just that maybe you'll see people for who they are from now on instead of what they are or what they wear.

;)