Jan 9, 2020, 6:40 PM

@nyctophiliac said in The Art of Lawyering:

Now I'm curious about the "lawyer reputation" you know - blood sucking, etc. Is it because the fees are so expensive or is it because people just didn't get the outcomes they wanted and are now bitter that they didn't get their way like an petulant child?

Yes, but the latter informs the former. Fees are expensive because lawyers go through some really intense training. You have to have an undergraduate degree of at least Bachelor's level in most places in the U.S., then take a brutal test to get in to law school (LSAT), take three or four years of classes to earn a doctoral degree in the law(J.D.), take an even more brutal test to get licensed to practice law (MBE/MPRE/etc.), and then, in some areas, take one or two years of post-doctoral education in order to practice in your specific area (LL.M.).

Lawyers are expensive because their time is extremely valuable. But also, people can be really petty and insist on doing things 'on principle', even though there is really nothing to gain from it. They just want a court to stroke their ego.

Well, guess what? It's going to cost you. Are you sure that this issue is so important that you're willing to pay a large fee to clog up the courts for what is probably no gain whatsoever?

It serves as a sort of gatekeeping function, really, and weeds out the ones that are really passionate from the ones that are just mildly irritated and will eventually move on because even they realize there is nothing to gain from this.

Why are judges elected in some places, but not in others? Which way is better in our modern times? I'm sure they both have pros and cons.

Because we love elections in the united states. We elect everyone. We elect dog catchers. Our love of elections and our love of lawsuits has literally been commented on since the founding of the country. Neither election nor appointment is perfect. I would prefer technocratic elections, wherein candidates must meet a baseline set of skills/education/experience in order to qualify and then voters can pick from this group of competent people.