I agree with them up to the rent control part (also about rental housing being unregulated) - I think the answer to high rents and a housing shortage is to build more housing units...
There's definitely a strong argument for de-centering lawyers from the solutions to many of the problems you highlight. I say that as a lawyer myself.
Even so, doing so without a wholesale change to how the justice system operates would create more fundamental unfairness, in my opinion. The law is like faith—it’s only powerful and capable of changing behavior if people believe in it. The current justice system has two tiers: those with counsel and those without. Yet a core American value is equal access to justice. Moreover, the justice system developed as a dispute resolution alternative to fighting, dueling, and self-help. If you need a lawyer to make the current system fair, and lawyers aren't available to everyone, it's only natural that people will begin to question the legitimacy of the system—i.e., lose faith in the rule of law.
Systemic change to dispute resolution is necessary to move us toward a society that treats people more justly and equally. Absent that, I fear movements will get bogged down in trade-offs between funding lawyers and providing direct cash transfers to alleviate suffering caused by an unequal system.
I agree with them up to the rent control part (also about rental housing being unregulated) - I think the answer to high rents and a housing shortage is to build more housing units...
there is also a tradeoff- funding lawyers sometimes means less funding for rent assistance.
There's definitely a strong argument for de-centering lawyers from the solutions to many of the problems you highlight. I say that as a lawyer myself.
Even so, doing so without a wholesale change to how the justice system operates would create more fundamental unfairness, in my opinion. The law is like faith—it’s only powerful and capable of changing behavior if people believe in it. The current justice system has two tiers: those with counsel and those without. Yet a core American value is equal access to justice. Moreover, the justice system developed as a dispute resolution alternative to fighting, dueling, and self-help. If you need a lawyer to make the current system fair, and lawyers aren't available to everyone, it's only natural that people will begin to question the legitimacy of the system—i.e., lose faith in the rule of law.
Systemic change to dispute resolution is necessary to move us toward a society that treats people more justly and equally. Absent that, I fear movements will get bogged down in trade-offs between funding lawyers and providing direct cash transfers to alleviate suffering caused by an unequal system.
Thank you. We need to have more conversations like this!