THE LEGAL CIRCLE OF LIFE

Lawyers "switching sides" in the old PI litigation game happens so often, that it has become something of a cliche.

Plaintiff lawyers become defense lawyers. Defense lawyers become plaintiff lawyers. Plaintiff lawyers become defense lawyers become plaintiff lawyers again.  And on and on.

And lawyers who have never litigated ever, for any side?  They, of course are appointed judges.

I have crossed the Great "V" Divide.  After many years as a plaintiff PI lawyer, I jointed a defense firm in the year 5BC(Before Covid).  

During my plaintiff days, around 12BC I started a legal blog, now discontinued, called AttorneyButler.net. Some Detroit history,  some legal commentary, some feeble attempts at comedy.  There was a lot of crossover between the second and third areas.

During my blog's run, I jousted with a gentleman named Dan Pero, who ran his own blog, AmericanCourthouse.com. As to Dan:  "He has served as Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for former three-term Michigan Governor John Engler and was the architect that helped build the state Republican majority of the 1990’s."-Strategic Federal Affairs website.  Again, according to the site:  "He has worked with the premier GOP consulting agencies in the nation: Bailey, Deardourff and Associates, V. Lance Tarrance and Associates and Karl Rove and Company. Campaigns and Elections magazine recognized him as one of Michigan’s “top influencers” in 2010."

Dan, and his boss John Engler, were not friends of trial lawyers--that is plaintiff lawyers.  I was one at the time.  And we didn't agree on much.  And, while I think Dan was paid for writing his blog (I suspect he had a large ghost staff), my blog was a hobby.

However, while we didn't agree on legal issues, Dan was a gentleman, a good family man and we shared a few interests "outside the lines".  We may still be Facebook friends.

Although our disagreements were fundamental and we both used blogs to publish our views, we were civil to each other in a way might be seen as weak, and "low energy" in today's environment.  Sad.

Time passes.  I run this blog, wwwlexfugit.com, now.  I let the attorneybutler.net domain go, and it is now owned by some company that helps lawyers get more easily found on legal directories--or something.

I think Dan was smarter and sold the AmericanCourthouse domain.  And quite possibly his subscriber list as well.

I subscribed to Dan's blog, and after a long hiatus, I started getting emails from the current incarnation of AmericanCourthouse.com

Talk about switching sides!

According to the website:  

"American Courthouse has developed a matching engine that filters through more than one thousand personal injury law firms to find the most qualified accident lawyer for your specific case. You can use our engine here, with information such as the state where the accident happened and the type of injury, you be able to see which law firms are the best fits for your accident claim."

The site includes such pages as "Claim Calculator" and "Finance My Lawsuit".

And:  ARE YOU AN ATTORNEY? VISIT THE ATTORNEY MARKETING CENTER

You can talk to an attorney with a mere click of the mouse.

I really don't think Dan was "struck down on the road to Damascus".  

He would be horrified that his once proud website (and one that had invented an award, just to bestow it on Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young during his reelection campaign) had become an  injury lawyer referral hub.  People switch sides in the law biz, but here.......?  NO.

Oh, the delicious irony.