So Many Lawyers

An Arizona grand jury has indited several people for 2020 election interference. Those indited include many attorneys, including: Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb. 

Attorneys are supposed to be the ones who follow the law. In fact, their code of conduct is incredibly strict. It goes well beyond just following the law.  They also need to always tell the truth and are obligated to report misconduct by fellow attorneys. 

But attorney ethics are an open joke. I cannot find a single incident of an attorney being disciplined for lying (at least in a family law case) or failure to report a fellow attorney's misconduct. Indeed it is almost assumed an attorney will lie if it helps their case. 

It is nice to see a few of them indited especially for what can be argued are actions that are a threat to the very foundation of our country.  

Can Family Court Be Fixed?

Can family court be fixed? Not accounting to Lee Rawles, author of the book, The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families.

Rawles' arguments are mostly due to the courts' inability to provide justice for lower class and the racially disadvantaged but, as this site is about, the corruption and inequity which is institutionally prevalent within the family court system runs deep. 

Over the next century, the purpose and purview of family courts expanded and changed. Today, family court judges may consider juvenile criminal offenses, status offenses, custody cases, adoption, the removal of children from their parents and truancy cases. What has remained constant is the uneven enforcement of child safety laws, which fall primarily on poor and minority families.

The Attraction Of Sexist Men

Do women find sexist men attractive? According to this article in Psychology Today, yes.

research suggests that women do in fact find sexist men attractive.

Although I am often sceptical of social science research, this does seem correct to me. I have seen it quite a bit. And how else do you explain Trump's support among women?  

As the article states a lot of research suggests the reason has an evolutionary basis.

They suggest that female interest in sexist men, specifically men who display “benevolent sexism,” may be seen by women as being more an interest in men investing resources in a woman.

Despite aspects of benevolent sexism appearing chivalrous and romantic, previous research has found that women who endorse these beliefs often demonstrate approval of restrictions on women’s freedoms, independence, and autonomy, and may impact women’s support for gender egalitarianism.

Being a good guy is hard. 

Women Talking Like Men Used Too

I've recently noticed women talking a lot like the stereotypical 1950s sexist male. Just in reverse.

On one example a friend of mine stated she was going to two physical therapists. When asked, "Why two?" she replied that for one Medicare paid for it and, more importantly, both were really cute young guys. Imagine if a man stated the same about going to two cute female physical therapists.

On another occasion, a woman  I know in her early 60 went on a kayak tour and, because she did not have a partner, was placed in a kayak with one of the guides. She spent a considerable amount of time telling a group of us, of which I was the only male, how wonderful it was because he was built! 

In both of the examples above, the women are educated and had good careers. Both are also very much feminists and quick to point out sexism in society. At least sexism on the part of males. 

I would feel uncomfortable talking like my friends did even to a bunch of men so it seems really strange to me to hear women talk that way. I wonder if they ever realize they are behaving just like the men they so often criticize?

Just A Reprimand?

The reality of our legal system is often surreal. 

In 1990, S.C. Rep. “Tee” Ferguson took a bribe from an undercover FBI agent, while Ferguson ran for an open judicial seat in South Carolina. A month later, Ferguson was elected without opposition.

He then took another bribe and then was sworn in as a judge. 

Later, after his conviction for corruption as well as pleading guilty to to three counts of possessing cocaine, he was sentenced to prison. 

More than a year after that the state Supreme Court issued a public reprimand. 

A public reprimand. He wasn't even disbarred. 

U.S. Attorney John Barton said of Ferguson: “How such a corrupt drug abuser got elected to the Legislature to begin with is beyond my comprehension. And then to have risen in the esteem of his peers to the point where he got elected to circuit court judge speaks sadly many volumes about the way government was conducted in South Carolina.”

Barton also said he had evidence that Ferguson intended to take bribes as a judge.

Again, the legal system determined his crimes only meritted a reprimand. What is wrong with our legal system? 

Music/Movie Piracy And Gaming

In Indonesia at least, women pirate more music and movies than men. Which is interesting just because it  is counter to gender expectations. 

"women are more likely to pirate than men in Indonesia. This is true for all content categories, except for software,"

This is similar to the fact that women make up about half, or a bit more than half if you include mobile, of computer gamers. I suspect many if not most assume the opposite. 

Attorney Bills

Extending last weeks discussion - Do lawyers pad their bills? Many do. 

"Fraudulent billing is a common practice in many large law firms."

I suspect the most common way is by overstating their work. In the linked article, when a small educational foundation called up a law firm with a simple question they were billed $885 for a one minute phone call. $85 for the call and close to $800 for research. Research which was never done. 

Another commonly used fraudulent billing technique is to bill two clients, or more, for the same work. When lawyers use forms they put together they often charge every client who uses the form for the work in creating it. Many, maybe most, lawyers do not even believe this is wrong even though the ABA does. 

My lawyers clearly overfilled me on a regular basis. I tried very hard to get them to detail the work they did but never got anywhere.  

An older but still relevant paper highlighting 16 egregious cases of fraud was done by Catholic University of America.

There is profound corruption on many levels within the justice system. Fraudulent billing is how many lawyers begin their career in crime.