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I've actually served on the ethics committee for the bar association. We discipline lawyers all the time. The bar does not exist to serve lawyers, it exists to

• justinclift 6y ago
  From the perspective of a lay person, it doesn't to be effective in doing so. eg. Places like Prenda Law being able to operate openly for years before being shut down, etc.
  • srtjstjsj 6y ago
    Prenda Law operated for 1 year before they were caught, and then. Disbarred and imprisoned. The reason they continued their crimes for 3 years was that it's impossible to prevent someone from doing paperwork crimes if they aren't in prison.
    • justinclift 6y ago
      > Prenda Law operated for 1 year ... While technically yes. They just opened another company and kept on going. Guess I should have said "Prenda Law and it's various incarnations". ;) > ... it's impossible to prevent someone from doing paperwork crimes if they aren't in prison. That's the whole point. ;) On that note, it looks like Paul Hansmeier is now attempting to start that racket back up again, even from behind bars.
• elgenie 6y ago
  > The bar does not exist to serve lawyers, it exists to regulate them. Those are far from being in opposition. A cynic might say the bar exists to serve lawyers as a class by doing the bare minimum to appear to be regulating them.
• jacquesm 6y ago
  It exists to avoid the courts stepping in to regulate them. If it weren't for the bar association keeping the worst out of view there would be a lot more lawyers reprimanded by judges instead. This is probably efficient, but not a sign that the bar association serves individual lawyers. It serves them collectively by keeping the dirty laundry within the organization rather than to submit to outside regulation.