Criminal mischief?

In a good case of self-policing, the lawyers at Volokh Conspiracy point out an out of control prosecutor wasting taxpayer money on behalf of jilted women. It was bad enough when hell had not fury, but now women scorned have criminal prosecution as a tool.

Authorities said Brian Jackson, 31, dated two women by pretending to be Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre.

Jackson, arrested Friday, was charged with harassment for allegedly continuing to contact both women after they learned of the ruses. He was also charged with criminal mischief for allegedly ruining a Steelers jersey owned by one of the women's neighbors when he signed his worthless rendition of Roethlisberger's autograph on it. The jersey was worth $75 before it was signed, police said.

As the newspaper, the Volokhians and the commenters all pointed out, a Steeler's fan ought to recognize the actual wearer of the jersey. One commenter noted that the appropriate legal principle here is caveat cheapskate.

The Fraternity: Lawyers and Judges in Collusion

Superior Court Judge John Fitzgerald Molloy is breaking the fraternity's code of silence and speaking out on how the legal system in the United States has been so corrupted for the enrichment of attorneys and the absolute power of judges. His solution - separating the bar from the bench - is less extreme than the original Dick's, but his book, The Fraternity: Lawyers And Judges In Collusion , is a must read for exposing the corruption that has eaten the heart out of the American system of government.

As lawyer and judge for half a century, John Fitzgerald Molloy has both profited from our legal system and seen how it has been altered in favor of lawyers, to the detriment of society. The book starts with the evolution of the Fraternity, with the author using vivid descriptions of particular cases in which he was involved. He shows that the legal profession has continuously re-shaped the law, in subtle but significant ways, to make legal services ever more necessary—and more lucrative for the Fraternity.

Lawyers are a pain in the rear

The Best Defense brings this story. A Florida attorney was suspended from practicing law for 90 days when "after being appointed guardian ad litem for a mentally retarded woman, he stole her money and took sexual liberties with her."

The defense that his fellow lawyers bought? The bloody a-hole defense. No, he didn't admit to being a bloody a-hole....

He said he had hemorrhoids."

"So?"

"He said that the medication he was taking affected his ability to reason."

(Post was emailed to me by Mr. Hutchison of Arkanssouri blxg.)

Something worse than lawyers?

LawFirmHelp, a blog helping attorneys with marketing points out that there is something better for frustrating and angering everybody than attorneys. Specifically, those "If you want so-and-so press 1..." answering systems.

My point, in a nutshell: if you wanted to invent a machine to frustrate and anger every single person who called your office, you could not do better than one of these answering systems.

Yeah, as if having to call a lawyer's office wasn't bad enough in itself.

Commenter from TraverseLegal solves the problem by training the firm's clients. "You called the right number. Good boy. Here's a treat."