October 27, 2005

Following up on his earlier post about the high prevalence of "sociopathic" clients encountered in an employment-law practice, Norm Pattis has more:

I wonder whether there is a correlation between litigiousness and sociopathy, and whether there are reliable cross-cultural studies correlating the two. Of course, such data would be difficult to gather. Not all legal systems are the same.

But if it is, in fact, true, that as much as four percent of the American population suffers sociopathy, that may help explain our love of litigation.

He goes on to recommend Martha Stout's The Sociopath Next Door (Broadway Books, 2005) "for any lawyer struggling to understand the sometimes bizarre behavior of their clients." See also Ted Frank's Overlawyered post of Jun. 23 quoting a pseudonymous blogger's assertion: "I like employment law because it revolves entirely around crazy people."