CDR: Re: And you thought Nazi agitprop was controversial?

Steven Furlong sfurlong at acmenet.net
Wed Sep 13 11:52:56 PDT 2000


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 at acmenet.net






More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list