This may be getting off-topic, but it's an interesting debate.

I don't have anything against lawyers as a group, and don't like the way they are all lumped together as greedy and without scruples. I have a parent and step-parent who are lawyers, and another parent who is a paralegal, so needless to say I knew a lot of folks in the legal profession growing up.

Recently, I've come to see that while most non-lawyers see things in terms of "right or wrong" or "black or white" or "moral or amoral" an attorney (even one of the good guys or gals) will judge things as "winnable or not winnable"

I learned this because my sister was involved in a motorcycle accident after she was riding illegally between lanes and hit a car. (She's recovering well, by the way.) Now she is considering suing the driver of the car, and has been told by an attorney she has a case. Apparently, it makes no difference that she was wrong for riding illegally, since he was wrong, too, for opening his car door into traffic. I am so ticked off at her for even considering this suit, but when I repeat this story in mixed company, inevitably bikers and lawyers all say she should do it. Apparently having a case is all that matters -- not taking responsibility for one's own actions.

-Rhu