the very first "Devil's Advocate" Award

They say that New York is the headquarters of the American legal profession, but virtually all the biggest law firms have offices in Washington DC. From a survey of the 200 largest law firms in the US, I found that around 77% have offices in Washington DC. In addition, there is a large specialized portion of the legal profession that only exists in Washington. Administrative law and all the federal legislative and regulatory work in the nation centers in Washington.

I came to school knowing very little about the legal profession, and life at law school in Washington has been quite a shock. I came having heard about "ambulance chasers" and the like, and having heard about criminal lawyers, but having no real contact or experience with lawyers. Even my pop culture exposure was extremely limited. I didn't read legal thrillers, or watch Law and Order, or Boston Public, or even CSI. Not that it would have helped.

From this place of almost total ignorance, the most fascinating and shocking part of the legal world for me is, without question, the defense bar. All of the largest law firms in the nation are corporate defense firms.

First, I find it interesting that lawyers specialize on one side of the law, particularly on the corporate defense side of the law. Why are lawyers more closely defined by the character of their clients than by their legal area? There is an easy answer to this question in the case of those who, for ideological reasons, always believe that their client is right. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that ideology is impacted by the socialization of the lawyer during the course of work for a client. For this reason, and because most people simply don't have a rigid ideology (or even an opinion) about most things, I think pre-existing ideology is a weak explanation for the factions in the lawyer world. However, I do think that ideology, particularly as it forms in the socialization process of the lawyer at the firm, plays a crucial role. But this is
too big a thought for this little post; maybe I'll post later just on this topic.

Second, these large defense law firms amaze me by doing despicable things on a regular basis, and being proud of it! Unlike corporations that produce products for public consumers, most of these law firms have only one very specialized clientele, corporations. Thus, their advertisements and publications need only focus particularly on the needs and desires of this clientele. As a result, the websites of the firms are an interesting window into the true purposes, objectives, and self-image of the corporations! The websites often include boasts about "accomplishments" such as the following:

"[Our firm] has advised Anglo American plc subsidiary, Zambia Copper Investments Limited, on its acquisition of the privatized assets of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd ('ZCCM')...The transaction required significant changes to Zambian law, particularly in relation to environmental liabilities. ZCCM’s assets were incapable of complying with certain Zambian environmental standards... The key achievements included negotiating an indemnity from the government and obtaining a moratorium on environmental law enforcement for 20 years."

This has inspired me to host a weekly "Devil's Advocate" Award for those who facilitate corporate evil.

So congratulations to the people that changed the law of a third-world African nation to allow twenty years of indiscriminate pollution. More information on ZCCM and environmental pollution:

OxFam report on Zambian copper mines and pollution
This report is really fascinating; it details the various kinds of environmental damage and the role Anglo.

UN Human Rights Article on the Zambian pollution in lead mines

Investing group report on the pollution problem
Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Agency. Extremely thorough.

Santren Report