James Bernard got an email from a surgeon friend, opening with this: "The public will soon be faced with a decision. Who will it be easier to live without- doctors or lawyers? Hmmmmmmm." In a rare moment of candor, have we just discovered what the stakes are here? Is it really the goal of Big Insurance and the doctors literally to make the lawyers go away? There's an old saw that goes something like this: You despise your lawyer till you need him. Then he becomes your best friend.

The public doesn't want to do away with us. When I'm sitting in a deposition or in trial with a client, I'm the ONLY friend he's got. Plaintiff or defense, that's a truism.