I'm not going to try to protect all the members of my profession here, but I love when I see phrases like it's a "lawyer thing." Everybody seems to forget that our systems of criminal and civil justice are based on an adversarial system, with both parties trying to convince the trier of fact, whether that be a judge or a jury, that their interpretation of events is more probable than not, or that the individual was proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have violated a criminal statute.

The "trier of fact" is the one who enters the verdict or the award. In most major cases, the "trier of fact" is twelve of you. Not twelve lawyers, but twelve people sitting in a box, who have hopefully listened to the evidence.

Just something to think about.

Gerry