lol exactly, Katherine
Funny, that's just what she is doing on the misfortunes of others
Same here. Especially not in a large US metro area. Or anywhere, unless you're talking about a tiny town w/one single lawyer who's more like a friend. It also depends on the area of law they practice and what you hired them to do.
Cheap lawyer is an oxymoron, it has been for 30 years, and that's not an overstatement
Oddly enough, I don't know any struggling attorney's, have not seen any homeless or selling there BMW's and MB's, and have not seen any carrying signs on street corners.
While it may be worse in the US I thought metro areas in Canada like TO (where you and so many on DNF live), MTL and Vanc had a similar situation, they don't have to be a well-established lawyer or hold a top job or be an equity partner in a firm (when you see PC next to their names), articles have been written about collusion in the legal space since the 80s. That's when they adopted the mentality of
"if Bob charges $250/hr and Bill charges $300, why should I only charge $150 ?".... no lawyer in the US will charge 'by the job' anymore, they make much more by the hour and all "contingencies" that arise during the case, they
love that term. I'm surprised things in TO (or even in all Canada) aren't rocking for all those w/a JD, they are practically everywhere else like main European cities in the top countries, PacRim large cities, etc
Adam made an interesting observation on one of his recent videoblogs (theArtoftheName.com) about the trend in Canada where paralegals are doing most of the work lawyers used to do, for a lot less. Unless a case involves court, complex lawsuits or the lawyer's expertise in a given space is needed. It's already started to happen in the US to some extent, it's not widespread. Sometimes lawyers let junior attornies do some trench work but eventually the lawyer needs to review/correct things, so he still gets to charge a lot
My understanding (and that's coming from my family's connection with quite a few lawyers) is, most young lawyers are struggling these days: finding a job in established law firms at least in North America is VERY difficult, and going solo would be even harder (as in HELL). Yes, top lawyers in their practice areas do make A LOT of money, but they are more like exception than norm.