Tim May wrote:
Why in the name of all that is good and interesting would you train to become a _lawyer_?
<grin> I make my living as a programmer, and plan to continue to do so. I want a law degree to help defend techies and free software projects from big-bucks corps and govts who feel threatened or avaricious over some aspect of the free projects. I'm attempting to help in some prior-restraint-on-crypto cases now, on the tech side, and would have liked to be able to help on the legal side. After I have a year of school under my belt, I'll see if EFF or the like can use some untrained assistance.
(From a practical standpoint, here in the Bay Area there is a growing oversupply of lawyers.
That's the case all over the US, isn't it? But you're right, the Bay Area seems to have more than its share. Look on the bright side: the lawyers will probably manage to kill the Silicon Valley boom in a few more years, the boom will go elsewhere, and the lawyers will follow. <<too many lawsuits>>
There have been _practical_ solutions offered. "Loser pays" is the most obvious one.
I like "loser pays", too. Interesting that various associations of trial lawyers contribute big bucks to kill loser pays, all the while sanctimoniously declaiming that they're only looking out for the interests of Sally Mae, who was rendered sterile at age 53 by a chemical spill two hundred miles away. See http://www.overlawyered.com/topics/politics.html (not for Sally Mae; I just made that up). Regards, SRF -- Steve Furlong, Computer Condottiere Have GNU, will travel 518-374-4720 sfurlong@acmenet.net