Lombardi Replies to Elefant

Steve Lombardi

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 335

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You know Carol, I've read your response, Lombardi's Response to My Post on Listservs, and can't agree. I still don't think you get my point and the point you advance is not one I can buy into nor do I believe any lawyer should find this practice acceptable. Your premise is that even bad lawyers who get equally bad advice at least can now cite a case (given to them by a member of a LISTSERV) in their briefs and we should all applaud that as something worthwhile.

(For example, I know one lawyer who will file a motion without any caselaw and then let his opponent "do the work for him" by researching and citing applicable cases in the response. Let's just say that this lawyer's clients wouldn't be any worse off if this lawyer relied on unverified advice from a listserve).

Hold on a second. In law school our first class was research and writing. That should have told the lazy law student something during the first semester; i.e., that research is an integral part of practicing law. If back in the day they were lazy then a different choice of profession was in order. What the LISTSERV is doing, in some cases, is fostering laziness and incompetence. The original intent was exactly the opposite. Go do your research and if stumped use the power of the LISTSERV to get you back on track for finding a well researched answer. The LISTSERV is not a complete solution; it is a means to an end. It will never eliminate and should never eliminate the basic work we all perform. But you seem to disagree about this one point and I'm puzzled by your response.

Puzzled, because once again you're proving my point; that LISTSERVs are allowing incompetent lazy lawyers to appear otherwise. That's not good for any of us. We are all competing for clients and the public perception that as a profession we don't tolerate incompetence. And ethically we have an obligation not to encourage or to support incompetent and in some cases the unethical practice of law.

I rest my case.