The New Philadelphia Lawyer: Attorney Outlaw

Speaking of Philadelphia lawyers, which I was in the preceding post, the term "Philadelphia lawyer" has been around since 1735 when Andrew Hamilton rode to New York to defend Peter Zenger against charges of sedition brought by the British crown.

No New York lawyer would defend the improverished printer, but Hamilton not only did so pro bono, he won the case, thereby establishing the concept of freedom of the press more than 50 years before the First Amendment. Thereafter, the term "Philadelphia lawyer" meant

A particularly adept lawyer who will find a way to prevail for his or her client.

As far as I'm concerned, it's been all downhill since then for Philadelphia lawyers in particular and lawyers everywhere in general.

Lawyers have become a law unto themselves in the U.S. It is nearly impossible to undertake any transaction of consequence, let alone navigate the legal system, without paying through the nose for a lawyer.

What's more, even many otherwise honest lawyers engage in "churning," the practice of running up fees while doing lawyerly things of little consequence, while there are more than enough crooked lawyers around who happily prey on grieving widows, clueless executors and naive businessfolk.

I know of what I speak, having done consulting work in legal malpractice in New Jersey, a state with so many crooked lawyers that there are lawyers who do nothing but defend or sue their fellow lawyers -- while doing their own churning, of course. I've also penned a few essays on crooked lawyers and how hard it is to take them down, including one here.

In the interest of fairness, I also have been around some damned fine lawyers who are exceptions to the rule. Chief among them were selfless public defenders.

There also were a couple of libel lawyers, Katherine Hatton and Sam Kline, who not only got me out of some jams while I was newspapering in Philadelphia, but when faced with a potentially litigious story never said to me

"We can't let you run this! You'll get your ass sued!," but rather, "Let's figure out how to get this in the paper without getting your ass sued."

* * * * *

Anyhow, now comes a Philadelphia lawyer who blogs at PhilaLawyer.net, where he boasts about being a skirt-chasing bad boy barrister. A typical post:

You probably wake up like I do every day, amazed that they haven't caught on to the fraud. When will the other shoe fall? It's only a matter of time. I don't deserve these checks. I'm not a team player. I'm not even playing the same sport.

The guy's identity is a mystery and the subject of much speculation. My own view is that lawyers are expert liars and this guy may not even be a guy and in any event may be making everything up.

Pardon the pun, but judge for yourself.

(Hat tip to Dan Rubin at Blinq)