Weekend Question 1: When Is a Lawyer Not a Lawyer?
Answer: When a lawyers’ association changes its name to shield its true nature.
From a subscription-only editorial in The Wall Street Journal:
Lawyers Anonymous
What’s in a name? More, it would seem, if the name doesn’t contain the words “trial” or “lawyer.”
At least that’s the hope of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, which today will ask its membership to vote to give that 60-year-old political lobbying institution a brand new moniker. ATLA’s board of governors already resoundingly approved a switch, voting 91-5 last month to drop any reference to the lawyerly profession, and instead go with the impressively unspecific and high-minded “American Association for Justice.” No word yet whether Webster’s will formally protest.
Driving this switcheroo is ATLA’s concern that more and more Americans are under the impression that trial lawyers are less interested in justice than they are in generating frivolous lawsuits that pad their own bank accounts.
You don’t say?
The “American Association for Justice” (AAJ) sounds like a cousin to International ANSWER, which in the circumstances is closer to the truth than it should be for “officers of the court.”
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UPDATE: Americans for Prosperity had a little fun with this. You must see their suggestion for the AAJ’s new logo.
