QUOTE (Rapidwhirl @ May 9 2008, 03:02 PM)

Nope, she's beyond further corruption.
As for the lawyer comment(s), it's because I seriously doubt they help other people sue out of the goodness of their hearts. I'm sure that there are numerous lawyers who are honest and decent, but there are always bad apples. My decision would make it so you wouldn't take a client that you were sure you could defend, and if it became apparent that they were guilty someone would abandon ship.
Say, if anyone wants to take over the world but doesn't know what to do after you accomplish your goal let me in on it. I'm trustworthy, determined, and somewhat knowledgeable in strategy, weaponry, and combat. I can learn methods for "peacefully" subduing a foe until we gain enough force to actively engage in a war.
You do know I am a law student...or rather will be one in August...right....sure a lawyer is not always going to help out of the pure goodness of their hearts, but that is why most of us become lawyers...to help. But if you owned a bakery, you would not let everyone come eat for free because you have a good heart, so why expect lawyers to help only out of their goodness of their hearts. Sure if you owned a bakery you might feed the needy with some of your products and time, but not all of it...you need to pay your bills and keep your business afloat...the same goes for lawyers...they take on pro bono work out of the goodness of their hearts (also something the bar requires too) but they can't do all the work for free...have you ever looked at the costs (the real costs, not the attorneys fees) of law...
Let me break it down for you...
copies...well you can either have a copier (which is expensive)...or you can go to kinkos and copy all of your documents...now you have 3 for the court you have to submit and one for each attorney and party...now if this is only one or two pages that is fine, but attorneys filing and the court paperwork is long...I have worked on files that are literaly about 100 pages...and that was a light file...now times that by $0.03 a copy and by 5 for all parties....and that is a lot...and these costs are included in most attorneys hourly rates
Then you have filing fees for all the filings: ranging from under $100 to a lot more...those fees can be waived if you can show financial distress, but it is still a cost
And the personal libraries that firms keep...with 100s of books that are in themselves about $100 each...true the attorneys can go to the law library and look up these cases, but if they spent all there day or had there paralegal spend all day running to look up case law at the library they would be there half there week...so that would add $100s to the bill...that is optimistic....
Then mailing fees, again in the hourly rate you are charged...$0.43 to begin with...
Now for legal help...a receptionist and paralegal are costs....you can either have your lawyer fielding calls all day or actually working...but those people cost money too....
And I am going take out $130,000 to go to school for 3 years to become a lawyer...I will be paying off those for a long time...now I am lucky with no undergrad student loans....but if the pay wasn't decent for a lawyer you would be broke....I am not spending 3 more years of my life and all that money to go into a profession I didn't love and didn't reward me for my time and effort....and just so you know...most lawyers I know (being that I spent this year working in family law) work weekends...because that is when the clients can meet. So unless you are willing to dedicate hundreds of thousands of dollars to your education and 7 years after HS to become a lawyer, at least don't lump them together with common criminals....yes there are some bad lawyers out there with questionable morals, but there are in every profession...
and one last thing...RW...no need to ask someone to give you the keys when they have conquered the world...since I am happy holding them since that is my life goal...ok...it isn't....it is to marry someone who will....but I am happy to take suggestions and build my legion of friends who will help me rule it