In Non-Compliant Podcast Episode 53, Jay Edelson, nationally recognized plaintiff’s attorney and founder of Edelson PC, hosts David Enrich, well known New York Times Journalist and author of Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice. During this episode, Jay and David talk about the undocumented and under-discussed corruption in Corporate America and how BigLaw plays a role.

David starts by sharing the inspiration for his book, Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice. Over the last 20 years, David has been covering stories on business and finance, and now his expertise brings him to examine BigLaw (2:50).

Noting a major shift, Jay brings up the 90’s and asks David what he thinks happened to cause the evolution of lawyers from being servants of the court to money hungry celebrities. David cites the end of prohibition of advertising as the key turning point in the legal history (5:35).

According to David, the law firm, Jones Day, started marketing immediately after the Bates v. State Bar of Arizona decision in 1978 overturned the prohibition on legal advertising. He even goes on to describe the hilariously out-of-touch efforts to modernize in the early 2000’s by Ted Walader, involving a polo and khaki fashion show and Ralph Lauren-directed trainings about workplace apparel (12:15).
Jay points out a major contradiction; BigLaw firms take on and represent the worst companies in the world, but when lawyers get hired by BigLaw, they wear it as a badge of honor. Jay and David go on to discuss if this esteem around mega firms is earned and how the power dynamics play into their cases (18:45).

The constitutional right for all accused criminals to have legal representation has been expanded to now mean businesses have legal counsel on everything, always, all the time. Legal services shouldn’t be used to evade taxes, hide money, etc., and David says the Corporate Bar has perfected the shut-down of criticism regarding this abuse. Jay and David agree that somehow criminal defense firms have a bad reputation for defending criminals, but big corporate firms are considered patriotic for defending themselves (25:20).

David highlights the Law-School-to-BigLaw-Pipeline and Jay tacks on to it, joking about his naivety going into law school. (29:00).

To close the show, David and Jay agree that there is a new wave of young students that stick to their guns and are standing up against working on cases that challenge their morality, despite those same cases being extraordinarily lucrative (37:00).

Connect with David Enrich:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidenrich
Website: https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-enrich

Connect with Jay:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayedelson
Edelson PC Profile: https://edelson.com/team/jay-edelson/

Connect with us:
Website: https://www.edelsoncreative.com/#podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edelsonlaw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edelson-pc