Philip K Howard "Life Without Lawyers"

(US News) Everyone has heard stories of seemingly outlandish lawsuits: the lawyer who sued a dry cleaner for losing his pants or the Teach for America teacher who was sued for $20 million after holding the arm of a rebellious student. These kinds of stories—sometimes true, sometimes apocryphal—are indicative of a hyperlitigious society. In his new book, Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law, attorney Philip K. Howard argues that the threat of frivolous lawsuits has become debilitating to the nation's healthcare, education, and legal systems. Howard, a partner at the powerhouse law firm Covington & Burling and author of the 1995 bestsellerThe Death of Common Sense, is chair of Common Good, a nonprofit group dedicated to reforming the U.S. legal system.

(Serve to Lead) Howard’s third book, Life Without Lawyers has been called “2009’s most needed book on public affairs” by Pulitzer Prize winning columnist George Will. Howard argues that it is basically impossible to fix schools, health care, or government until people with responsibility are liberated to use their common sense—so that teachers can maintain order in the classroom and doctors can avoid squandering billions in defensive medicine. “What is needed is not a reform but a quiet revolution,” writes Howard. “…We must remake our legal structures so that Americans are free again to make sense of everyday choices.” In addition to the Will piece, the book has also been reviewed by Evan Thomas in Newsweek, and Stuart Taylor in National Journal.

Comments

[Dan]

With all due respect, in an age of Enron, Wall Street Meltdowns, AIG, etc., I find a book premised on the argument that fewer rules and lawyers are required positively Orwellian. Luckily, others do too...http://tinyurl.com/c6nak2