ACT FOUR
Over time, the civil justice system changed. The changes were subtle at first, starting with changes in the lawyers. Then the changes made their way to the people.
The third lawyer continued to read fast, learn quickly, think well, and work efficiently. The rich and powerful still liked him because he gave them better results for less money. And that was the problem for the third lawyer – the “less money” part. His partners saw that he billed fewer hours and therefore brought in less money to the big firm than they did. They decided that if he billed fewer hours and brought in less money than they, then he should also make less money than they.
So they voted to reduce his compensation.
The first lawyer continued to work very hard. He worked long hours and worked late every day and kept working on Saturdays. The rich and powerful still liked him because he worked so hard and devoted himself to their cases. He began to think that his way was the only way to do things, and that his two partners should work as long and hard as he did. He began to check their offices at night and on Saturdays to see if they were working. Because they weren’t, he decided that they shouldn’t make as much money as he.
He thought the second lawyer should still make more than the third lawyer because he billed more hours and brought in more money to the firm. But since he didn’t believe the second lawyer actually worked all those hours, he should make a little less than the first lawyer.
The second lawyer continued to bill lots and lots of hours. He kept good records and wrote down lots of time. But the rich and powerful began to suspect that he wasn’t actually working all those hours. And he wasn’t – he had discovered golf. So he golfed on afternoons and on weekends, but he still wrote down lots of time.
The rich and powerful started to question his bills, and his two partners found themselves scrambling to justify charging the rich and powerful for all those unworked hours. But, by and large, the rich and powerful still paid most of the bills. So the first lawyer was happy as long as the money came in, but the third lawyer wasn’t happy. He thought his two partners were ignoring an ethical problem with the second lawyer.
The fourth lawyer continued to be a champion for the poor and lowly. He continued to get them money for their pain when they were hurt and continued to right wrongs when they were wronged, and to get them money for the wrongs. He continued to get money for the poor and lowly from the rich and powerful, and to get forty cents for himself for every dollar he got for them.
He learned that the worse he made their injuries sound, the more money he could get for them – and for himself. He also learned that they didn’t even have to be hurt if he could make it sound like they were. So he started advertising, trying to drum up more business that he could get money for. The big firm started calling him an “ambulance chaser” or, worse yet, a “TV Guide lawyer,” since he advertised in the TV Guide.
And God saw that it was not so good.
Mike Farris
(214) 979-0100
mfarris@tiptonjoneslaw.com
