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How Obama Will Benefit Lawyers

The ABA Journal today has an article on how (and which) lawyers will benefit from an Obama Adminstration.

What are we? Chopped Liver? (Not a mention of criminal defense lawyers.)

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    i happen to like (5.00 / 0) (#6)
    by cpinva on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:27:19 PM EST
    Chopped Liver?

    very tasty on a cracker. of course, if you want to be fancy dancy, you can call it pate'. you think it's cheap? try ordering it in a restaurant, the bill will take you back a bit.

    It's pretty cheap at my local (none / 0) (#13)
    by oldpro on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 04:41:40 PM EST
    food co-op:  Duck's liver with truffles, yet ... $6.50.  The darn cheese is more costly than that!

    Parent
    holy cow, (none / 0) (#16)
    by cpinva on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 06:21:05 PM EST
    that is cheap!

    Duck's liver with truffles, yet ... $6.50.

    is that per pound? clearly, i am shopping at the wrong stores!

    fortunately, i'm the only one in my family that likes it, my wife and kids think it's gross. lol

    i have raised a bunch of goyem!

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    Holy duck and pork! (none / 0) (#19)
    by oldpro on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 07:08:01 PM EST
    Can you eat pork?  If not, you're screwed.  If so...check your local specialty grocer for pre-packaged

    M&H (Marcel & Henri) @ 12.99 lb here (San Francisco Importers)
    MOUSSE DE FOIE DE CANARD ET GRAS DE PORC TRUFFE AU PORTO

    Yep...includes port wine AND truffles.

    Dunno if it will meet your standards but this Irish lassie loves it!  (Then again, what do I know?  We Irish think salt and pepper are spices and are limited to one star on the Mexican and/or Thai menus!)

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    Obama as a Senator (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by kaleidescope on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:44:57 PM EST
    Made one of his first votes in favor of "class action reform", which took state class actions out of the states and forced them into the federal courts.  This imposed the ridiculous Daubert standard for expert testimony on cases that previously were not subject to it.  Moreover, it imposed Article III standing requirements on cases that did not previously require that, requiring that the cases be dismissed, rather than remanded to state court, if the plaintiffs did not meet Article III standing requirements.

    Obama even bragged about this vote as an example of his willingness to stick it to major elements of the Democratic coalition.

    As a former class-action lawyer (5.00 / 0) (#8)
    by Steve M on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:53:03 PM EST
    I honestly never felt that the CAFA was that big a deal.  You generally get a pretty fair shake in federal court, and state courts have a way of being completely random.  Mind you, it will be a very good thing that Obama will get to restore a little ideological balance to the federal courts.

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    I like Daubert (none / 0) (#17)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 06:31:46 PM EST
    It's much better than the old Frye test.

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    I Prefer (none / 0) (#21)
    by kaleidescope on Sun Nov 09, 2008 at 06:08:31 PM EST
    California's Evidence Code.

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    Isn't it a given those who benefit (none / 0) (#1)
    by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:56:27 PM EST
    will be those who donated large sums, i.e., plaintiffs' trial lawyers?

    Not necessarily so (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by scribe on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:12:35 PM EST
    If you look back at the support the trial lawyers gave WJC (arguably as deep as to Obama), they left with less than they had going in.  

    A lot less.

    I have no expectation of that changing.

    There was the so-called securities law reform, which cut deeply into the ability to sue corporations for defrauding their shareholders or the market.  

    There was the so-called tort reform which went forward in the 90s, which cut the guts out of most of the personal injury practice.  An example:  a friend recently related that a particular serious but relatively common back injury - a herniated lumbar disc at L4-L5 without radiculopathy,  something easily gotten in a car accident - had a damages value at settlement or trial of between $40,000 and $60,000 in 1992.  That same injury, today, has a damages value of about $30,000 to $35,000.  And, that assumes that the victim has not somehow given up his right to sue by purchasing the marginally less-expensive form of insurance which does not allow all injuries to be the subject of a suit, rather only the more "Serious" ones.  

    You might say that the serious injuries will get compensated and, to a degree you'd be right, but its those injuries which have been cut out of the compensation system by the insurance law changes of the 90s but are nonetheless real which made the real difference.  The back and neck injuries you'd settle for $10,000 or $15,000 - painful and lasting - are a lot more common than the herniated discs, and those smaller cases made up a lot of the bread and butter of law practices.  They're gone.

    Of course, if your TV has as many car insurance ads as mine, you know where the "savings" are going.

    In pure economic terms, I'd be ecstatic to have PI law back at 1992.  Not that we'll get that.

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    Hmmm. Guess I don't have a dog (none / 0) (#4)
    by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:21:40 PM EST
    in this hunt/fight.  

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    But of course (none / 0) (#5)
    by Steve M on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:24:57 PM EST
    most or all of that came out of the Republicans after they took over Congress.  Clearly Congress, and not the President, will be driving the bus on issues like tort reform and so Democratic control is the key.

    I have a lot of experience with the PSLRA (the GOP's reform of securities class-actions) and while it's a mixed bag, the lead plaintiff provisions turned out to be really good public policy.  If you're the victim of an actual fraud, you're a lot more likely now to get a real recovery via the class-action system as opposed to a $10 coupon settlement where the attorneys keep all the proceeds.

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    The dirty secret (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by Steve M on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:21:38 PM EST
    is that when plaintiffs' lawyers benefit, defense lawyers benefit too.

    I'm not sure what's on the top of the wish list for the plaintiffs' bar right now.  One hot topic that Russ Feingold has already been pursuing is the use of arbitration clauses, most notably in consumer contracts.

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    Oh - no doubt about that. (none / 0) (#14)
    by scribe on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 04:43:39 PM EST
    I used to chide the other side all the time "if it weren't for those nasty plaintiffs' lawyers bringing all those suits all the time, you'd have a very hard time meeting your billable hours targets, now wouldn't you?"

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    Hey don't forget the dirt lawyers (5.00 / 0) (#9)
    by Molly Bloom on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 03:14:43 PM EST
    Real Estate Closings. Banks getting federal bailout money will be pressured to make more mortgage loans. Meanwhile a likely moratorium on foreclosures will encourage more home sales
    .

    I did my part, captained my precinct, worked the polls, to the victor belong the spoils!

    Parent

    Although I don't see your name on the (none / 0) (#10)
    by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 03:20:32 PM EST
    transition team.  SEIC got theirs.

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    I am one of the mysterious donors (none / 0) (#11)
    by Molly Bloom on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 03:59:57 PM EST
    I'll say. (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 04:21:20 PM EST
    No mention because (none / 0) (#15)
    by oldpro on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 04:44:15 PM EST
    they're probably hoping to produce fewer criminals needing defending...unlike the Republicans, of course.

    but they're going to crack down on (none / 0) (#18)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 06:34:43 PM EST
    corporate crime -- and if Eric Holder is AG, I suspect gun crimes, child P. crimes and cybercrime as well. (As if our laws aren't harsh enough.) He's big on those from his Clinton/Janet Reno days.

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    They are? Corporate crime? (none / 0) (#20)
    by oldpro on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 07:11:48 PM EST
    REALLY?

    Boy, hope I live to see that.

    Parent