Okay, I didn’t mean that title as a joke—I’m sure I’ll get tons of comments and answers for the next weeks telling me everything that’s wrong with lawyers! I just had a minor medical surgery process and things went so well. The team of people that attended to me was fabulous. Nurses, anesthesiologists, clerks, and surgeons. There must have been a dozen people who saw me prior to the actual surgery. They all checked to make sure they had the correct patient and that we all agreed on the correct procedure to be accomplished.
I was so impressed at the coordination of care and the seamless treatment. I know they’ve done these surgeries hundreds of times, but from my perspective, it all went so well. The surgery was a success and I am recovering well.
So, what’s wrong with lawyers?
I thought of many other professions: dental, engineering, architecture, accounting, and construction where teams of people work together to solve a problem or accomplish a goal. In law, the lawyers work against each other—in an effort to solve a problem. What’s wrong with lawyers?
In some areas like criminal law, where the government is threatening your to take away your freedom, it is vital that we have an adversarial process to protect us as citizens from an over-reaching government. But in almost all other areas, the adversarial process seems like such a waste of time, a huge cost, and very inefficient. Lawyers are the only professionals that work against each other to solve problems. Doesn’t this sound crazy??
Luckily, in the past twenty years, many advocacy groups and courts have worked to create mediation panels and arbitrators who are often trained as lawyers, but approach the case more like an engineer or doctor would and try to get both sides to cooperate and settle their differences in a reasonable and cheaper way.
The good news is that more cases than ever are going into mediation today. I think everyone understands the waste of time and money that occurs when the lawyers get their hands on something. Even lawyers can agree on what’s wrong with lawyers!
What are your thoughts?
