There's something about the Robin Hood story that resonates: the theme of robbing the rich to give to the poor, protecting the helpless, opposing tyranny.
It's no wonder so many personal injury attorneys like to promote themselves as modern-day Robins.
The identification is not apt, however.
For one thing, the original Robin was not actually “robbing” the rich, but merely relieving them of wealth they'd acquired dishonestly by plundering the poor. Many a modern Robin really does rob his victims of the honest fruits of their labor.
The bulk of his booty, furthermore, he keeps for himself, giving only token amounts to the poor souls whose causes he professes to champion.
Does the modern Robin protect the helpless? His clients seem as conniving and predatory as he is, and the truly helpless are made even more so as he diminishes and destroys the business interests that create opportunity and wealth for all of us.
Does he oppose tyranny? Not when he hijacks our legal system and uses it as a weapon to enrich himself, just as tyrants did of old. Not when he uses his ill-gotten gains to elect judges and legislators to promote his interests to the detriment of the common good.
According to Greg Thomas, executive director of West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse,“Millionaire personal injury lawyers have spent over $300,000 to elect candidates who are supportive of finding more causes of actions to flood our legal system with lawsuits, and who oppose legal reforms that would attract job creators to our state.”
Thomas laments that “millionaire personal injury lawyers seem to be holding the receipts for many of the seats in our West Virginia Legislature. They have spent millions in recent elections on candidates who support their anti-jobs agenda, which only benefits them.”
These modern-day Robin Hoods aren't robbing the unjustly rich. They're robbing the most productive members of our society, and by doing so they're robbing the poor, too.
