Hey Larry, Who are You Talking to?
Law Prof. Larry Lessig addresses the graduating class of John Marshall Law School. He notes
There is no one in the criminal justice system who believes that system works well. There is no one in housing law who believes it is what law was meant to be. In contracts, you read about disputes involving tens of dollars, maybe a hundred — the disputes of ordinary people. These disputes are not for the courts anymore. Or if they are, they are for courts that are an embarrassment to the ideals of justice. The law of real people doesn’t work, even if the law of corporations does.
Ouch.
I am all for Larry’s message. Indeed, I bought into this years ago after reading Sol Linowitz’s brilliant critique of the legal profession. But let’s face it. Larry is talking to a bunch of people who just spent a rather large amount of money to be successful in a legal career. That means they need to make a lot of money. End of story for trying to persuade them to fix the legal system. No one makes a lot of money doing that. They should, but they don’t.