John Edwards, Taking Heat for Being a Trial Lawyer

Rob Curtiss

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

Several of the major presidential candidates: Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani to name a few are lawyers by training. Thus far I don't recall any of these individuals have been attacked because they are attorneys. However, another candidate John Edwards has been vilified for some time because of his profession. You see, Edwards is not just a lawyer he is a "trial lawyer." This means that unlike the others his practice has primarily consisted of representing ordinary people against corporations and insurance companies. The fact that Edward's has represented victims against the rich and powerful has made him a natural target of the rich and powerful and their attack machine.

Now this article is not an endorsement of Edwards for president. But as a victims lawyer myself I believe we have a duty to stand up when trial lawyers are attacked simply for being trial lawyers. It should be pointed out one of the fathers of the American Revolution and our second president, John Adams was a trial lawyer. Abraham Lincoln, perhaps our greatest president was one also.

So when the rich and powerful attack trial lawyers for what they do they are really attacking our jury system. This is because all their money and power cannot protect them against a jury bent on doing justice. So their may be any number of good reasons to criticize John Edwards but his former profession is not one of them. For more on the debates see: http://www.wmur.com/politics/14978023/detail.html