Insurance Law

Optional Federal Chartering for Lawyers

By The authors are Martin F. Grace and J. Tyler Leverty, professors of insurance and risk management a

On the Spitzer, Scruggs, Weiss Trifecta ....

What gets me, however, is the deafening silence out of Washington. When insurers step out of line--such as when bid-rigging and contingency fee abuse was exposed, or when thousands of policyholders were left bare after questionable Hurricane Katrina claims-handling--Congress rushed to probe the business, vowed to pass sweeping reforms and threatened to revoke the industry's cherished federal antitrust exemption. However, I don't see Congress rushing to investigate the plaintiffs bar, despite the outrageous criminal behavior of two of the profession's highest-profile litigators. As far as I understand the system, lawyers are state-licensed. Perhaps the Feds should take over! (Or shall we have an optional federal license for attorneys?)

Sam Friedman at NU.

Full post as published by RiskProf on March 26, 2008 (boomark / email).