Letters.

Gun Lockers

I was proud to read the July 15 letter suggesting the need for gun lockers for lawyers at the various Florida courthouses. When I consider the issues confronting the state of Florida, issues such as failing education, the destruction of the Everglades, the faltering economy, the overburdened legal system, it is invariably the lack of usable gun lockers for lawyers at the courthouse which leaps to the forefront of my consideration.

And the writer is correct to associate this gun locker deficiency with the need to improve the public perception of lawyers as "supporters of freedom." I mean, what freer act is there than schlepping a gun to the courthouse and placing it in a locker?

Ray Goodman

Kissimmee

Dignity in Law

This letter is in response to Bar President Tod Aronovitz' call for Dignity in Law in the July 15 News. Specifically the lines: "Lack of trust of our judges and our legal system cannot be tolerated! Misperceptions about the legal profession are turning people in need away from the law...." Pardon me, but was that meant as a joke? In the same issue, on the same page, nearly 75 percent of Florida lawyers report an average hourly rate of at least $150 per hour. With the political correctness emphasis of the Bar solely focused on helping "indigents," how do Bar members propose to meet the legal needs of the middle class?

Such an hourly rate breeds contempt in the working man. Such a rate is insulting to the working middle class family that cannot afford legal representation when faced with potentially devastating lawsuits filed by frivolous plaintiffs based on subjective complaints. It's not these puling plaintiffs who are to blame, though, it is the lawyers who take these frivolous suits to shakedown insurance companies and private citizens. There is no misconception by the public. They know hypocritical fat cats when they see them. If you really want dignity in law, then expel the attorneys who practice shakedown tactics. Expel attorneys who charge so much the average person can't afford a defense. Self-police or deal with derision. Until the Bar self-polices, Mr. Aronovitz will just have to tolerate lack of trust in the legal system and the judges on the part of John Q. Public.

Grace A. Jaye

Crawfordville

Contingency Fees

Two letters in the August 1 News give garbled reasoning in response to my letter of July 1, which was critical not only of contingent fees, but more particularly of the excessive percentages toward...