ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994                   TAG: 9404140016
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE:    By HARSHA SANKAR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LEGAL SYSTEM SERVES ONLY LAWYERS

THIS NATION'S legal system needs reforming. It's slow, expensive and inaccessible to many, and too often it's corrupt and unjust. The main reason for this breakdown is that lawyers are allowed to shape the legal system to serve their own purposes instead of the public's needs. More than 100 million who have legal problems cannot afford to hire an attorney. Here are some reasons why Americans have inadequate access to the legal system:

nMany laws are hard to find and even harder to understand.

nLawyers' hourly fees are about 10 times the average person's hourly wage.

nJudges and court clerks are generally hostile to self-help efforts. Because of this, easy-to-use forms and procedures are rare.

nMany legal procedures (house sales, probating an estate, settling divorces, etc.) are unnecessary and serve only to generate lawyers' income.

nNon-lawyers who compete with lawyers by providing high-quality, low-cost legal-form-preparation services are punished as criminals.

The legal system's real tragedy is that it hurts those it's supposed to help and doesn't punish those who commit wrongs on others.

One example of the gross inadequacies of our legal system is our tort system. Thousands of seriously injured victims don't receive fair compensation, while a relative few are overcompensated tremendously. However, trial lawyers block any attempts at much-needed reform because the present system is so lucrative for them. They have so much control over state and federal legislatures, through connections, campaign contributions, etc., that they prevent well-meaning politicians from doing what's right.

Another example is divorce. Instead of a process helping people to separate with dignity, lawyers manage to convert people's pain into billable hours for themselves.

Justice, the cure, should never be worse than injustice, the disease. This nation's rapidly reaching the point just described.

It's outrageous for people, businesses and large corporations to spend $100 to $300 an hour to have their inalienable rights interpreted, advocated and protected. The enormous sum of money that's wasted could be put to productive use to satisfy a legitimate need. Lawyers don't do anything that's considered productive, and anyone who can speak is capable of advocating their claims.

Our once-proud system of law that systematically ensured justice for all is now at a serious crossroads. Lawyers are mainly the ones benefiting from this miserable muddle. The legal system's purpose should be to serve the public, not make lawyers wealthy. The only way the public would truly be served is for this nation's laws to be clear-cut and simple, so that people can have their freedoms protected without losing any of their economic freedom.

Harsha Sankar owns a convenience|

store and gas station in Covington. 


 by CNB