J. Clarke wrote:
....
I am told (by drunken lawyers) ...

I think they were _too_ far in their cups...

...Somewhere along the way, ... the ethics rules in most states
were changed so that a lawyer could not refuse to accept a case on the basis
of lack of merit. The unintended consequence is that when some idiot comes
to you and wants to sue McDonalds because they spilled coffee on themselves,
he _has_ to take it or risk disbarment. Get some liquor into a group of
lawyers and you'll often hear this complaint--many of them don't like it at
all, but every time any attempt has been made to change it the do-gooders
have trooped into the legislatures and given their song and dance about how
it would result in cases with merit also being denied. Sooner or later
democracy is going to collapse under the weight of squeaky-wheelism and
interlocking constituencies.

I really don't believe this is true at all -- lawyers routinely refuse
cases and the bar ethics rules aren't created by legislative action.

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