November 12, 2007

First Thing We Do, Let's Praise All The Lawyers

A recent article in The New York Times described how Pakistan's lawyers are opposing the disbanding of the court system and what appears to be the imposition of martial law. I'm not sure what I, a securities lawyer in Jupiter, Florida, can do about this situation other than stand up and cheer.

Lawyers are easy targets in the U.S. We are blamed for higher costs for health care, medications, insurance and just about anything else when the critic feels it appropriate. On the other hand, there are lots of satisfied clients out there who were glad they had a lawyer when one was needed. It may be that people like some lawyers, but only their own. The other guy's lawyers are probably the object of intense dislike.

Lawyers were heavily involved in the formation of our great nation. Lawyers were involved in any case that impacted the rule of law in the U.S. Lawyers are there for the underserved, the ill and those that are too young to even ask for a lawyer. If it wasn't for a lawyer, Mr. Miranda would not have a warning named after him.

So when you read about the lawyers in Pakistan standing up for their country's constitution, dressed in their suits and being assaulted by police with tear gas, ask yourself, do we want to kill all the lawyers? Didn't think so.

That's the view from The Law Planet - Jupiter, Florida.

November 5, 2007

Hooray For SIFMA! Sanity In The News.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the securities industry's trade group, has been remarkably silent in the arbitration abolition wars. First, the distorted report from Daniel Solin and Edward O'Neal came out which said arbitration was unfair, simply based upon won/loss rates. Then the Feingold-Johnson bill is proposed - to ban all "consumer" arbitrations. Even PIABA, the trade group for securities claimants' lawyers, came out against arbitration and, separately, proposed removing the industry panelist from all arbitration panels.

In a recent article from The Investment News, SIFMA is described as fighting back. Of course, the naysayers will portray SIFMA's study as self-interested, but nobody seemed to accuse Mr. Solin or PIABA of the same self-interest. But I digress.

A review of the SIFMA study shows that a lot of thought went into debunking the horse-droppings that were left behind by the Solin study. SIFMA correctly points out the number of garbage cases that were filed by people who were incapable of accepting that the market simply went down. This is not to say that every case was garbage, but my own experience was that there were a lot of people who wanted to take the risk and that ultimately led to their financial distress.

Read the report. It provides the other side of a coin that was not previously turned over. Now, I'm sure, the battle heads for Congress. Long live arbitration!