MYTH no. 2 - there are too many lawyers - five myths about lawsuits

By: Angie Zinzilieta
 
When I was in law school, I clerked for a judge who would always jokingly say, “There are more lawyers than stray cats around here!”  He wasn’t alone in his thinking.  Late Justice Scalia once said: “We are devoting too many of our very best minds” to the legal profession because “lawyers, after all, don’t produce anything.”
 
Despite this wide-spread opinion, the problem isn’t that we have too many lawyers.  The problem is that those who need access to the legal system and justice are receiving it.  According to a 2017 report by the Legal Services Corporation, low-income Americans received inadequate or no legal help for 86% of their civil legal problems.  According to a task force created in New York, 93% of parents dealing with child custody issues did not have a lawyer, and only 1% of debtors in credit card debt actions had a lawyer.
 
Our team of lawyers comes from a blue collar background.  We base our hiring on not only a lawyer’s resume and law school transcript, but also their personal background.  You can’t teach hungry.  Our lawyers deeply understand the financial struggles which come with being involved in a car crash, having insurance deny your claim, being denied workers’ compensation benefits, or being a victim of medical malpractice.  We’ve been there.  Our team does plaintiff’s civil work because we want to help those who need help.
 
There may be more lawyers than stray cats, but there are very few lawyers who understand.