PART III-LAWYERS
Chapter 11
Profession of Law
Intro
Historical background
No lawyers in early colonies
1725-1775 Bar flourishes
1776 25/52 signers of declaration of independence were lawyers
No strong bar association to limit practice
Supreme Court not even given a permanent home
11.1
Legal Profession in
Nature of American lawyers
Like order and tidiness
They have mastery of hidden knowledge
They have tastes and habits of aristocracy
Lawyers are good for maintaining order
Monarchs should like lawyers
Lawyers take over government when princes and aristocrats are excluded
Lawyers are of the people by birth, but by habit are aristocrats, they are
the link between the two groups.
Compare common law lawyer to civil lawyer
English and American lawyers have reverence for old things
French lawyer tries to solve problem of the day with the code
Reliance on precedent makes common law lawyer more conservative
Code is hard for laypeople, common law is incomprehensible
Where is the American aristocracy?
On the bar
Political questions typically become legal questions
11.2 Big Casino, Grutman and Thomas
Nature of Trial
Used to be do it yourself
Now, test of nerve
Expectations in court and of lawyers
Money
Steerers who drive clients to PI lawyers
Lawyers as psychotherapists
Tactics of
Day in the life video
Emotional appeals "he eats like a dog"
Doctors exaggerate
Tactics of the silk stocking firms
Rich people can always get good lawyers
Lawyers sell the idea that they can solve the client's problems
Skadden Arps' takeover department
Sullivan & Cromwell's takeover defense, "onion layer defense"
Ruthlessness, deal that eliminated 27,000 jobs
Age of the middleman
Intimidation
Demand letter
Clients are either angry or afraid
Trust is absolutely essential
Lawyer as Shrink
Spies from Mars case