There are generally sharp divisions between those of us who work in the civil justice system. Most lawyers who do this kind of work represent one side, more or less exclusively. After all, Allstate, the lead paint manufacturers, and CNA–the physician insurance company–don’t want to hire lawyers who routinely pursue claims against their interests.

But the latest round of criminal convictions against some big name plaintiffs lawyers are leading me to re-think some of this. Dickie Scruggs has been in the news of late. He’s handled lots of big-time cases, including tobacco cases and–most recently–post-Katrina insurance claim cases. He recently pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a judge.  Sorry, but we just downloaded a new version of wordpress, and I’m having problems with the link function. However, there’s a nice news report at www.natchezdemocrat.com..  Article date is March 14, 2008.

For those of us who play by the rules, the revelations of misconduct raise a combination of responses. Immediately, there’s a sense of outrage that these people not only violated the trust placed in us but also let their greed pollute a system that is so important to a functioning democracy. If we can’t trust the integrity of the civil justice system, I’m truly worried about our collective future.

I suppose for those of us who never aspired to be the world’s greatest or richest trial lawyers, there is also some sense of smug self-satisfaction in watching those who overreach fall. That’s wrong, of course, but I would be less than honest if I didn’t cop to the reaction.

The good news for Oregon consumers and businesses is that our state civil justice seems to operate cleanly. We’re small enough that all the players know each other, and I think that all sides of Oregon’s civil justice bar remain committed to clean justice.

Scruggs and the bad guys at Milberg Weiss are bad news. They’ve done significant damage, I fear. But don’t lose sight that greed and misconduct run on both sides. If you have any doubt about this, go back and learn about the greed-driven misconduct of a number of a large corporations like some of the oil companies, the asbestos manufacturers, tobacco, or some of our casualty insurers.

When I started out in this profession, I committed myself to working on the side of people. I naively viewed the civil justice system through a narrow prism that put all who represented people on the side of good. And I suppose I still cling to the notion that if you’re willing to take the hard road and stand up for middle- and low-income people against big institutions, you’re doing good on this planet. That commitment hasn’t waned. But I now realize that I feel a tighter affinity with those who are committed to a clean system, regardless of which side they represent.

David Sugerman

Tags: attorney misconduct, Milberg Weiss, Oregon class action lawyer, Scruggs, sugerman