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PLEASE NOTE: The following is my own opinion and does not reflect the opinion of this forum or anyone else on it. Therefore, please to not shoot the messenger.

As the title of this report indicates, some lawyers use devices to trick clients, and potential clients, into giving up their hard earned money. Some people call this stealing. My attorney uses the term "legal theft." The word steal indicates some kind of criminal activity. The words legal theft indicate that funds are taken from someone in an under handed, immoral way, but by a method that is completely ethical and legal.

The legal system, in the United States, came mainly from England, or through English common law. In England, they have barristers, who work for clients, and solicitors, who work for the Crown, or the government. However, in the United States, we only have lawyers who are licensed by the state in which they practice and are officers of the court. As such, all lawyers are under the control of judges and judges work for the government. Therefore, unlike England, where barristers are not officers of the court, how can anyone receive fair treatment by the U.S. judicial system when both the defense and prosecution lawyers are controlled by the government? A good question.

Please forgive me if some of you already know this, but people sometimes go to lawyers seeking personal injury or wrongful death actions. At the initial meeting between the lawyer and the client, the lawyer, listening to the client's story, immediately knows if he, or she, wants to take the case or not. Most of them want slam dunk cases that they could not lose with their eyes closed. (Slam dunk is a basketball term meaning that the ball is literally shoved through the hoop by a player for a sure goal.)

If the case is not wanted, the lawyer tells the client that he will take the case on contingency anyway and has the client sign a attorney - client agreement. Buried deep in the agreement is a clause that gives the lawyer the right to conduct an investigation into the causes of action surrounding the case.

For two or three months, the lawyer does nothing. After this time period has elapsed, a letter is sent to the client declining to take the case and demanding $ 5,000 for an investigation the lawyer never conducted.

If the client fails to pay the $ 5,000, the lawyer files an lawyer lien on the client's assets, including their paycheck, if they have one. The State of California has such an lawyer lien.

If the lawyer does this to twenty clients during one year, he has generated $ 100,000 worth of income for just having one meeting, sending out one letter, and possibly filing one lien.

This is legal theft, because the system is run by lawyers, judges, and county clerks. Some states have outlawed this practice, but not all of them.

Maybe this is what is going to happen to some of the people who signed up with the lawyers who are threatening to go after SI. These folks may learn the adage, "Pay me or I'm after you."

We have a lawyer, here in California, who says in his television advertising, "If you have been injured, I will fight for you." However, he does not say, "But, only if I agree to take your case." He will sort through 100 cases, but will probably only take about one or two of them, cases that he could not lose blindfolded, with his hands tied behind his back, and where he will be able to coerce the other side into settling out of court. If he is able to accomplish this, he will not have to go through the time consuming process of writing and filing a brief and he will take between 30 to 40 percent of the settlement. As my attorney said, "That's the lawyer biz." He will not take personal injury or wrongful death actions because he does not want to have to deal with this. He considers it to be unprincipled and corrupt.

Please don't get me wrong. There are lawyers out there that are literally working their fingers to the bone for clients, for little, or no, pay, including possibly the lawyers who are formulating cases against Solid Investment. But, there are also those who are playing the system for all they can get out of it. In my opinion, the trick here is not to get taken by any of them.
Last edited by xxxxxxx on Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:58 am; edited 1 time in total
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pinetree