Why Are All of Those Lawyers Smiling?

Dear Maryland Daily Record Editor:

Unless they hail from Hollywood, I don’t expect lawyers to be savvy enough to have had enough foresight not to be all smiles on an article about bankruptcy, but I think your paper could have been more thoughtful. (Maryland Lawyer cover story, “The Business of Bankruptcy Law,” October 6, 2008)

In hindsight, I am sure these attorneys did not want to appear gleeful about the fact that the misfortune of others has caused their business to skyrocket.

If ever there was a cause for the photographer to tell their subjects to NOT to smile, it was for the picture that accompanied an article about bankruptcy.

Mike Henderson wrote this editorial with the Baltimore Metro Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. Good for Mr. Henderson for writing it. The Maryland Daily Record also deserves credit for publishing this editorial. Mike got it right; the Daily Record and these lawyers got it wrong. Everyone agrees, and we can all move on.

A friend of mine was telling his much younger brother recently that it would help him stay out of trouble if he would get good grades. He told him “everything goes down better with good grades.”

Right now, lawyers – most notably personal injury lawyers – are the kids with bad grades. Anything we do either individually or as a group that is questionable is immediately given scrutiny. Every lawyer should keep this in mind.