Lawyers are like builders and doctors

[lawyerslie]

undefinedWhat is the name of your state? MI

I have been reading the various posts and cannot help but be frustrated by the lack of understanding people have about the law and what an attorney's role is. I am also frustrated by overwhelming number of lazy, unscrupulous, and incompetent lawyers running rampant across this country.

An industry as complex and vast as the legal services industry, should not be allowed self-regulation. It makes me sick that there are not specific state or federal laws that mandate attorney behavior. Attorney misfeasance can be just as costly and devestating to a person's life as a mistake by a physician. However, unless you suffer monetary damages, the courts don't care about what they do to your mental well being, or what they do to your view about the human race itself. I don't think the attorney realizes that what they do can have an effect on a person's entire future, and not just the client's future, but the family of the client as well. When a person hires an attorney to handle a matter, they should be able to trust that the attorney will do the best they can to fix it for them, and at the very least be knowledgeable enough to explain to them what trouble they are in or not in, what the options are, what the law or precedent is regarding the matter, and give them the opportunity to participate in the decisions regarding their case.

Many of the attorneys I have encountered think the average "layperson" is just too stupid to understand what they are doing, and rather than take the time to expain why and how they are going to do something, they just assume we will agree with them. After all, they are the ones who went to law school and passed their test, not us.

I feel that the legal profession is sliding downward in it's standards for who gets licensed and who stays licensed. Perhaps the corruption of the legal society extends to the regulators themselves.

I believe we should push for some STATE or FEDERAL laws, not codes or rules, that mandate an attorney must give informed consent, just as a physician would, and also that everything must be reduced to writing, just like a builder.

After all, if you go to a doctor because you were bungi jumping and cracked your head open, he cannot amputate your arm and say, "well, yeah, but you were the one bunji jumping in the first place." If you hire a contractor to build you a three stall garage and he only makes it two stall you would get your money back and he would lose his license. If he were an attorney he could just say, "well, it was my professional opinion that you don't need a three stall garage because you only have two cars" The disciplinary board would say ok, it was a judgment call.

Here is my question: How many of you agree there should actually be state statutes regulating the actions of attorneys? How many at least agree there should be informed consent laws for attorneys, and that citizens should be allowed to sit on the grievance boards?

LMK

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by lawyerslie

undefinedWhat is the name of your state? MI

I have been reading the various posts and cannot help but be frustrated by the lack of understanding people have about the law and what an attorney's role is. I am also frustrated by overwhelming number of lazy, unscrupulous, and incompetent lawyers running rampant across this country.

An industry as complex and vast as the legal services industry, should not be allowed self-regulation. It makes me sick that there are not specific state or federal laws that mandate attorney behavior. Attorney misfeasance can be just as costly and devestating to a person's life as a mistake by a physician. However, unless you suffer monetary damages, the courts don't care about what they do to your mental well being, or what they do to your view about the human race itself. I don't think the attorney realizes that what they do can have an effect on a person's entire future, and not just the client's future, but the family of the client as well. When a person hires an attorney to handle a matter, they should be able to trust that the attorney will do the best they can to fix it for them, and at the very least be knowledgeable enough to explain to them what trouble they are in or not in, what the options are, what the law or precedent is regarding the matter, and give them the opportunity to participate in the decisions regarding their case.

Many of the attorneys I have encountered think the average "layperson" is just too stupid to understand what they are doing, and rather than take the time to expain why and how they are going to do something, they just assume we will agree with them. After all, they are the ones who went to law school and passed their test, not us.

I feel that the legal profession is sliding downward in it's standards for who gets licensed and who stays licensed. Perhaps the corruption of the legal society extends to the regulators themselves.

I believe we should push for some STATE or FEDERAL laws, not codes or rules, that mandate an attorney must give informed consent, just as a physician would, and also that everything must be reduced to writing, just like a builder.

After all, if you go to a doctor because you were bungi jumping and cracked your head open, he cannot amputate your arm and say, "well, yeah, but you were the one bunji jumping in the first place." If you hire a contractor to build you a three stall garage and he only makes it two stall you would get your money back and he would lose his license. If he were an attorney he could just say, "well, it was my professional opinion that you don't need a three stall garage because you only have two cars" The disciplinary board would say ok, it was a judgment call.

Here is my question: How many of you agree there should actually be state statutes regulating the actions of attorneys? How many at least agree there should be informed consent laws for attorneys, and that citizens should be allowed to sit on the grievance boards?

LMK

**A: as to your first, there already are. As to your second, I agree and in most jurisdictions, the office of disciplinary counsel has laypersons on the committee.