May 8, 2008

The American Association for Justice has issued a news release respondi....well, not responding to the new Manhattan Institute report, "Trial Lawyers, Inc.: Asbestos." More like calling names and changing the subject.

• The scene setter: "Manhattan Institute's latest attack on the civil justice system follows the mold of its previous reports: fictitious, imaginative and laughable." OK, that's a soundbite. Not substantive, but a soundbite.
• An attack on the Institute's Jim Copland, director of the study, for comments taken out of context on Vioxx. Wait, Vioxx? And that's relevant, how?
• A paragraph from an 11-year-old newspaper story about the Manhattan Institute's funding.

Slurs and misdirection. That's part of the business model, isn't it?

In other reaction to the report, Dan Popeo of the Washington Legal Foundation argues in The Examiner that the legal profession must do more to police itself and instill a sense of ethics. ATRA's Sherman "Tiger" Joyce sees more evidence accruing for the need to have Congressional hearings.