.jpg)
From the explanation in the hyperlink, champerty was once illegal in the US but is now legal there. Basically, a lawyer (usually) takes up a civil suit without charging a fee. If the case is won, the lawyer gets a cut. As my colleague Andy Ho argues above, such a practice enables poorer people to seek legal compensation over some actionable grievance.
There is an association between champerty and another word, barratry. In the latter, the lawyer knowingly pursues a case for a client even if the case is a weak one since the lawyer will still end up earning a fee. Obviously, it is difficult to bring up evidence of barratry:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/barratry
What about "ambulance chasing"? The phrase suggests the exploitation (by lawyers, usually in cahoots with someone at the scene) of negligence cases, typically accidents such as those on the road or in hospitals:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Ambulance+chasing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now for some legal humour:
Legally blonde joke: Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive, double-pane, energy-efficient kind. Today, I got a call from Home Depot who installed them. He complained that the work had been completed a year ago and I still hadn't paid for them.
Helloooo, just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am automatically stupid.
So, I told him just what his fast-talking sales guy told me last year... that these windows would pay for themselves in a year. Hellooooo? It's been a year, so they're paid for, I told him.
There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally hung up. He never called back. I bet he felt like an idiot.
......................................................................................................................
A man went to his lawyer and told him, "My neighbour owes me $500 and
he doesn't want to pay up. What should I do?"
"Do you have any proof?", asked the lawyer. "Nope," replied the man.
"Okay, then write him a letter asking him for the $1,000 he owes you,"
said the lawyer.
"But it's only $500!" replied the man.
"Precisely, that's what he will reply and we will have the proof we
need," said the lawyer.
......................................................................................................
The professor of a Contract Law class asked one of his students, "If you were to give someone an orange, how would you go about it?"
The student replied, "Here's an orange."
The professor was outraged."No! No! Think like a lawyer!"
The student then replied, "Ok. I will tell him - "I hereby give and
convey to you all and singular, my estate and interests, rights,
claim, title and advantages of and in, said orange, together with all
its rind, juice, pulp and seeds, and all rights and advantages with
full power to bite, cut, freeze and otherwise eat, the same, or give
the same away with and without the pulp, juice, rind and seeds,
anything herein before and hereinafter or in any deed, or deeds,
instruments of whatever nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in
anywise notwithstanding."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A dog ran into a butcher shop and grabbed a roast off the counter.
Fortunately, the butcher recognised the dog as belonging to a
neighbour of his.
The neighbour happened to be a lawyer.
Incensed at the theft, the butcher called up his neighbour and said:
"Hey, if your dog stole a roast from my butcher shop, would you be
liable for the cost of the meat?"
The lawyer replied, "Of course, how much was the roast?" "$7.98."
A few days later the butcher received a cheque in the mail for for
$7.98. Attached to it was an invoice that read : 'Legal Consultation
Service: $150.
................................................................................................
The lawyer's son wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, so he
went to law school. He graduated with Honours, and then went home to
join his father's legal firm.
At the end of his first day at work he rushed into his father's
office, and said, "Father, you know what, in one day I managed to
solve the accident case that you've been working on for 10 years!"
His father responded : " You idiot, we lived on the funding of that
case for 10 years!"
No comments:
Post a Comment