Law firms are 'implicated' in rise of inequality, says 'Saving Capitalism' author Robert Reich
The author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few doesn’t want to go so far as to say that large law firms are complicit in the rise of inequality.
“Complicit is a strong word,” author Robert Reich tells the American Lawyer (sub. req.). “They’re definitely implicated. The structure of the economy has shifted, and they’re participants.”
Reich, President Bill Clinton’s former secretary of labor, makes the argument in the book—now available in softcover—that law firms and their clients use their power to shape the free market, according to the American Lawyer review of the book.
“Reich’s table of contents reads a bit like a first-year law school transcript,” the American Lawyer observes. “The ways to rig the free market fall under the headings of Property, Monopoly, Contract, Bankruptcy and Enforcement.”
Among Reich’s arguments: Strong intellectual property protections thwart competition. Fine print traps consumers into unfair arbitration agreements. Bankruptcy protects a bank such as Lehman Brothers, but not homeowners and college graduates with massive student debt. Investor attorneys pave the way for stock buybacks that enrich insiders and speculators. And lawyers help their corporate clients avoid full accountability for wrongdoing.
The book proposes solutions such as fairer bankruptcy laws, weaker protections for intellectual property and stronger antitrust enforcement. The American Lawyer asked Reich if BigLaw firms could also be part of the solution.
“It may be possible,” Reich said, “for lawyers in those firms to be more aware of the distributional implications of what they’re doing and bring it to the attention of clients, and perhaps advise them to choose strategies that are less injurious to the structure of our political economy.”
He then reconsidered his statement. “As I say that, I realize how quixotic it may sound,” he told the American Lawyer.
Reviews of the book also appeared in the New York Times and the New York Review of Books in the fall.
