Posted by pancho from customer-148-233-93-22.uninet.net.mx (148.233.93.22) on Sunday, January 05, 2003 at 3:05PM :
Open Letter to Shawn Leuthold.
I thought of joining your profession once upon a time...inspired by Clarence Darrow and the like. I worked with Public Defender lawyers for three years in Seattle, as an investigator, writing up arguments and appearing with them in Juvenile Court, just to get a feel for the profession. Was even promised a stint in jail for contempt because I wouldn't shut up when the gavel went down on the life of a kid who'd never had a chance from the start. Not for me.
It isn't entirely your fault you guys are reviled. It's part of the job description. There is no better way to defend a person than to defend him or her blindly, totally...within certain limits of course. The prosecution must go hell bent for leather and therefore so must the defense. It isn't perfect by any means. That's for crimminal law. Where you guys get slimed the most is in civil cases where you know well how to harrass people for whoever pays your fee. Of course you have to serve your client's interests, and you don't want to look your client horses and mules too much in the mouth or they just might take their business elsewhere. Sure, eventually someone you latch onto can prove his or her innocence, even get restitution for harassment from your client and you...but we all know you can make life miserable and money often determines how many pounds of "justice" a person gets.
If I had any property you could attach I'd be in far worse shape. Luckily, Jackie and Atour Golani and Nimrod made sure I had nothing left of material value so I don't have to sweat it...aside from air fare every few weeks. Now we all know Jackie is pissed at me for telling the truth about her...that's what hurts the most...that it IS the truth. You can make a good case to yourself for going after me in every way she signs a check for...but how does it feel to knowingly let yourself be hired to go after a college kid who never did a thing to her...as even you admit in your e-mail to him? What did you mean, you sue Jeff for "future use"? Is this supposed to give Jackie immunity from ever having to see her dirt exposed? You got nothing better to do...another client who can help you retire some day?
What else can someone pay you to do you wouldn't do for free under any circumstances? Is pay your primary consideration? I realize of course that Jackie could have found you "inadequate" for her purposes and taken all of her business elsewhere. But still...how much money do you need...how much does it take to make your life worthwhile...when you might need as much as you apparently do to buy off your conscience...for just these sorts of things? If you slimed yourself less you might not need to send your soul to the cleaners as often...a considerable savings in itself.
The appealing thing about a whore to most men is that they know damn well she or he doesn't want to give a blow job to a one of them...hates the idea of it, but they can bend her or his will by flashing cash. That's the turn-on...the forced humiliation in something so sweet and dear in itself. A whore's pathetic kiss is weak stuff full of lifeless passion paid for by the phony grunt and coo.
Would you ever have done such a thing to Jeff for free? I realize you can't afford to "go there". But I think you let yourself off far too easily by claiming, "it's my job". Yes, you have a duty to your clients...if you take the money, you must perform, even if it means getting down on your knees to do it. And no whore can care much what the client looks like or how she smells. Cash is cash...paid hire is paid for...no time after that for delicate feelings.
No, under no circumstances would you have deliberately cost a twenty-year old college kid working his way through on a scholarship so much...at no time would you have suggested to anyone, let alone yourself have made, a move so costly and hurtful to him knowing damn well he didn't do anything to deserve it. Not for free anyway. No way. neither would I, or most decent people.
What happens when you get a license allowing you to straddle the fence between what is right and reasonable and what pays? No, you wouldn't ever give that kind of service for free...but for money?
Which makes you exactly what.
See you on the tenth.
-- pancho
-- signature .