The Just Us System: The Best Legal System Money Can Buy

Lawyer up!

We’ve all heard that term.

But how many of us can actually afford the cost of representation in court? Probably only the moneyed elite.

If lawyers are as worthless or worse as the litany of jokes about them suggests, why do we pay them so much?

Money was originally, and should still be, a way to store wealth. You raise chickens and sell their eggs. Your neighbor paints pictures. You have no desire to buy art, but your neighbor wants eggs. Well, let her get chits from an art lover who wants one of her paintings. Then she can give you the appropriate amount of chits for your eggs.

I call myself a “populist”.

From dictionary.com:

Populism:

1. any of various, often antiestablishment or anti-intellectual political movements or philosophies that offer unorthodox solutions or policies and appeal to the common person rather than according with traditional party or partisan ideologies.

2. grass-roots democracy; working-class activism; egalitarianism.

3. representation or extolling of the common person, the working class, the underdog, etc.: populism in the arts.

One person’s time is not worth more than another’s, just because he could afford to go to law school and chooses to do so.

If I was pronounced Ruler of the Universe, I would pay trash collectors more than I paid someone with a cushy job like looking up statutes and caselaw.

Before the invention of computerized information, finding applicable law was difficult. One would be buried in books. Writing court documents took a high level of skill. There was good reason to ask for an appendix and a detailed table of contents. Now we can word search any length document and find what we are looking for rather easily. Finding information is easier than going on Google. Try http://www.dogpile.com.

For several years, I paid about $800 per month for a subscription to Westlaw, a legal research database. I cannot afford that any longer. Thankfully, the service is available at two law libraries that are not too far off from my home. And I notice that I can get by with a bi-weekly visit or so. Regardless, most professions require similar subscriptions or other expenses.

I am not opposed to paying ethical lawyers about as much as we pay school teachers.

Judges claim differently. Judges, who are after all lawyers, find a reasonable rate of pay for other lawyers to be as much as $485 per hour. Judge Janis L. Sammartino in the Federal District Court of Southern California decreed so. She was appointed by George W. Bush. Judge Linda Lopez, same district, agreed. She was appointed by Joe Biden.

If a person represents herself, established caselaw disallows her to be paid anything for her time and effort, even where fee shifting would be allowed if the litigant was represented by a licensed attorney.

To close the door to the courthouse for the common person, some courts, such as the Federal District Court of Southern California forbid a self-represented litigant from receiving limited scope representation from an attorney. If a person cannot afford an attorney to do all the work involved, then the person must do all the work herself. Even if she is ill.

Judges have also decided that a non-attorney cannot represent her own interests in property that is held in trust. In Arkansas, a judge such as Susan Weaver will unjustly take property held in trust from the beneficiary, even if the beneficiary is trustee and is sitting in the courtroom. Even if the judge has seen a handwritten note by the person she is giving the property to that says he is committing fraud. Often times, the attorney fees to protect property from Judge Susan Kaye Weaver will be more than the property is worth. $300 per hour, the going rate for an attorney in Arkansas, adds up quickly.

Not only do judges close the door to court on the common person, but they have also made the use of trusts to avoid probate available only to the rich.

It would be great to continue on my rant, but I must go spend my time (which will not be reimbursed) to write an appellate brief that addresses some of these issues.

Unfortunately, no matter how well a pro se litigant pleads her case, far too many judges will throw the case in the direction of their attorney colleagues.

Got to get those attorneys paid.