The U.S. has a glut of lawyers (Forbes; Boston Globe). At the same time, a group of lawyers are expanding the definition of “rape” to include, potentially, simply holding hands (nytimes).
This might not have a huge effect on the number of lawyers employed in criminal rape prosecution and defense, but should open up a lot of opportunity for civil litigation (see my review of the book Missoula for the interaction between the civil and criminal systems in this area of the law).
Can there ever be a long-term glut of lawyers if lawyers are the ones who get to decide which human activities might draw citizens into court?
I don’t think this is the solution because there are not enough deep-pocketed “rapists” to make this a profitable business. Your typical “rapist” is a college age man who doesn’t have a lot of money yet. By the time the “rapist” has a job and significant assets, he is already married and his “raping” days are over.
You can try to make deep pocketed institutions such as the colleges responsible for the “rapes” conducted by their students but they will quickly put policies in place that will shield them from responsibility – in order to attend, students will have to sign releases or the institutions (who have lobbying power equal to that of trial lawyers) will get laws passed absolving them, etc.
As the war on drugs slowly winds down, you’ve got to keep the prison industrial complex going somehow. Why not holding hands? As good of a reason as any for 25 to life.
The U.S. has a glut of lawyers
Yet, the three times I needed a lawyer to handle a real estate matter or other personal matter, none were interested in my simple case except for one at $250 per hour!
Doesn’t the simple law of supply & demand apply to the legal services market? A glut of lawyers should push down the cost for a lawyer, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
$250 an hour? That’s a bargain and I’m being serious.
Lawyers pretend they operate in a free market.
What do I charge? What all the lawyers charge, the market rate!
But in a free market, both participants are generally free to walk away.
Can one participant in the legal market walk away?
Only a fool has himself for a lawyer.
Lawyers work in a mostly coercive marketplace; set rates accordingly, rationalize post-facto.
Andy, maybe we can sell prison services to countries like Mexico. Although we did have an escape recently. I would be curious to see if El Chapo could escape Guantanamo.