Lawcare

I often listen to NPR's “All Things Considered” on my way home after work. One evening there was a story about the decreasing number of public defenders. In some states there is such a shortage that the attorney is actually reading the case while walking down the hall to the courtroom. On the one hand, I was sympathetic to the attorney. Unlike in medicine, where we routinely are expected to walk into a room without any prior knowledge of the case before us and are expected to make a decision that could mean life or death, this is apparently not the norm in the legal world. On the other hand, I could only imagine how uneasy the defendant felt about the efforts of this overworked and underpaid public servant trying to piece together a plan of action. I am sure there are a lot of legal maneuvers to delay the proceedings and probably some routine actions for the most common of situations requiring legal counsel. Maybe it is kind of like seeking consults or requesting tests. However, I began to think that since the “right to an attorney” is guaranteed in our country, we should do something to make sure that everyone gets the opportunity to have the best legal minds in the country represent them in their time of need, regardless of their ability to pay. I am going to call it Lawcare.

To start with, everyone gets a card that allows them to go into any attorney's office and receive assistance. Now there would be obvious limits. You would not go to a prosecuting attorney's office, a corporate attorney's office, or a tax attorney's office if you indeed need a defense attorney. They could probably help you out some, but they would ultimately send you to the right attorney. Now, there will be standards for this attorney. They will have people in their office that do nothing but to make sure the attorney completes all of the proper paperwork so that the attorney gets paid. In determining the amount of reimbursement to the attorney, factoring in these extra people in the office is not part of the formula. After all, if you are working at the courthouse most of the time, you don't need your office staff working in the office.

The other key factor to affording this law coverage is to set the fees for specific types of cases. Therefore, if the case takes two days or two years, the attorney gets paid the same fee. In fact, the fee will be based on what the average length for handling a particular case would be. So, it will be to the attorney's advantage to litigate a case in as short a time as possible. Time is money. Now, the tough part for the attorney will be if along the way the case does not go as planned. For instance, let's say that the client (using the term “client” is appropriate in law circles) commits perjury during the case. Now the attorney has two problems. However, there will be no payment for handling the second problem, as it could have been prevented had the attorney adequately prepared the client. Of course the attorney can bring in any special attorneys desired in order to help with the case. Each of them will be paid based on how much time they spend with the patient and how many of the “standards” they check off as actually having met. Now, here is the best part. If the ruling of the court is not in favor of the client, the client can then sue the attorney for not being able to, let's say, convince the jury that the glove did not fit. Of course, this would start the whole process over again with another attorney. The client would still go to jail, but his family would continue to show that regardless of the fact that the client's “rap” sheet had been building since the age of 12 and the client's fingerprints were on the weapon, it was the lack of ability of the attorney that caused his conviction.

Obviously we will all have to chip in and pay for this new service whether we use it or not. In fact, if you don't contribute to the federal program, you will be fined. If your employer does not provide it for you, they will be fined—unless they have fewer than 20 employees. But, in fact, in one fashion or another, we will all have to pay—unless, of course, you live in Massachusetts or belong to one of the top ten special interest groups in Washington, or, well, you get the picture. It will be a huge federal program that will certainly have the bureaucracy befitting all federal programs. If that does not give you enough peace of mind, then you will be relieved to know that there will be the ability to purchase additional Lawcare through private companies. These companies will negotiate with attorneys and set fees to be paid them for specific cases. Their policies will make sure you get the best attorney available just in case there is an attorney that opts out of the federal program or maybe you want to make sure that you really are getting the best representation available. Now these private companies will obviously be “for profit.” Who in their right mind would want to insure you get the best representation for a service you are already guaranteed to get without obtaining a profit from it? In addition, there will be a tremendous supportive structure. Companies will be available to supply the latest stenography equipment in the country. There will be research to show that yellow legal pads are the standard as opposed to purple ones.

I know this all sounds like “pie in the sky.” I will agree that it could be hugely expensive and more of our hard earned money will go to paying for it. Don't worry. If the cost of Lawcare continues to climb, we can just cut the attorney reimbursement.

Talk about “tort reform.” JAAPA