The Business of Being a Trial Lawyer

If you haven’t checked out the Manhattan Institute’s “Trial Lawyers, Inc.” series, you should.

The series, and its new report, discusses the sometimes suspect relationships between state attorneys general and plaintiffs lawyers.

The new Trial Lawyers, Inc. report looks at the campaign contributions of state AGs and then the instances where those state AGs have turned to trial lawyers on a contingency fee basis. In laymen’s terms, trial lawyers are profiting off of lawsuits on behalf of the states.

Attorney General association – specifically the Democratic Attorneys General Association – is funded heavily by the large law firms.

Manhattan Institute director of the Center for Legal Policy James Copland explains the relationship between AGs, and why the system is out of whack:

“The huge windfall fees generated by state-sponsored litigation bear little relationship to work performed and create at least the appearance of "pay to play" arrangements in which lawyers donate campaign dollars to state officials who return the favor by handing their donors no-bid contracts entitling them to monies that would, assuming the underlying lawsuits have merit, more properly belong to the state's taxpayers.”

The American Legislative Exchange Council is behind the Private Attorney Retention Sunshine Act, which “insists on competitive bidding, legislative oversight and fee standards for state contracts with outside counsel.”

If states were to adopt the legislation, like ten states already have, states may avoid these suspect relationships and do right by their taxpayers.