One of our Supreme Court Justices (I forget which one) once said "Finding an honest lawyer is like finding a virtuous prostitute."

Having completed a full year of law school (don't ask me why.....it's a long story), I can't help agreeing with this assesment.

I have a young woman friend online who writes that she aspires to be a member of this much maligned proffession. I wish her well in her endeavors. At the same time, I regard her pronouncement in much the same way I would if my daughter had written that she had decided to marry the leader of some local cult and would be moving to Wyoming to raise green beans and hollyhocks "for the betterment of mankind".

Having spent more than ten years as an insurance adjuster and attorny negotiator for a major insurance company, I believe the 'ambulance chasers' of the world are perhaps the most honest of all lawyers. They make no bones about being in 'the business' of making a dishonest dollar. It's the lawyers who enter politics, specialize in business law, divorce, the defense of various and sundry criminals and a multitude of other areas where 'nit picking' prevails that are the real culprits in my eyes.

My young friend wants to enter the law arena to 'make a difference'. I respectfully suggest she could make more of a difference by opening a successful hardware store, expanding it into a franchise, then hiring a dozen or so dishonest lawyers to persue whatever agenda she might have in mind to 'make a difference'.

Our soon to be ex president, Bill Clinton.......leaves behind him, as a legacy, a lawyer's words "That depends on what you mean by the word is" Is this what my young friend aspires to? To spend her middle aged years trying to effect change within the system by picking apart words like is, who, what and where? If so, I am saddened because there goes yet another bright mind......lost in the legal mumbo jumbo of legalese.

Listen to me, Michelle......if hardware stores aren't your thing, try pancake houses, used car lots, a string of brothals or maybe even selling cocaine in back alleys. Just stay away from law schools. Life doesn't get any more dishonest than that.