legal sanity

Some time ago, I commented on Thane Rosenbaum’s book The Myth of Moral Justice. In my review, I focused on his perception of the legal profession as devoid of morality and his concomitant call for lawyers to once again regard themselves as members of a healing profession.

A very interesting aspect of the book that I didn’t highlight, however, is Rosenbaum’s belief that the key to the law’s much-needed morality boost is the proverbial day in court. Only at trial, he asserts, do people have a real opportunity to share their stories of hurt, grief, disappointment and other injury. It’s this storytelling – this chance to speak up and be heard - that promotes the healing that the law and lawyers are meant to facilitate.

A nice companion piece to Rosenbaum’s theory is this recent mediate.com article on The Satisfactions of Litigation. In it, lawyer and ADR professional Charles Parselle states that "very good reasons exist why people routinely prefer the litigation system rather than alternative dispute resolution systems." They see the courts as optimum forums for gaining vindication, a sense of empowerment and "a stamp of legitimacy." As Rosenbaum does, Parselle likens courtrooms to "the public square, the place where citizens gather to be heard and to vent."

Giving visual and other support for the courthouse as public square analogy is a recent, photo-captioned New York Times article titled State to Pay Woman Injured by a Flying Beach Umbrella [tipped by WSJ.com’s Law Blog]. The photo depicts the injured woman and her attorney, courthouse in background, standing under a replica of the large beach umbrella that flew up from its mooring and struck her forehead. In the piece, the lawyer says that he and his client intended the display to send this cautionary message: "Summer's coming. [ ] Believe it or not, beach umbrellas like this can be a real hazard to your health."