A Thought for Justice

Throughout my legal career, non-lawyer friends often felt compelled to tell me lawyer jokes. Some of these jokes were funny; some were not. But what all these jokes had in common was that lawyers were the butt of all of them.

As we all know, the public does not presently hold lawyers in high esteem. In fact, I am hard-pressed to think of any time when lawyers were held in high esteem by the public.

Yet, to paraphrase an old aphorism, all lawyers are scum—until you need one. When a person wants to vindicate their rights or address an unfairness in society, more often than not, a lawyer is used.

And why? Because among the many different things lawyers do, one of the paramount functions is assisting people in obtaining justice. No other profession can make that claim.

Our theme for this issue is justice, and we present several interesting, informative, and entertaining takes on the subject.

Jon May gives us a historical perspective on how the concept of justice has developed over time, from ancient Mesopotamia to 21st-century USA in “The Evolution of Justice.”

David Ray Papke provides a critical analysis of possibly the most influential post-WWII philosopher on justice, John Rawls. In “A Philosophical Foundation for Liberal Democracy: John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice,” Papke discusses Rawls’ contributions to our present-day understanding of justice and fairness.

The expansion of justice to different societal stakeholders remains a current issue that affects us all, as Joan M. Bondareff points out in “Why the Equal Rights Amendment Matters to Seniors.”

In our Tech column, Jeffery Allen and Ashley Hallene address the ability of people of all ages and classes to obtain justice in our society in “Technology and Access to Justice: Closing the Digital Divide.”

Tom McClure takes a unique and clever view of justice in his “Ten Overlooked Movies about Justice.” This truly is a list like no other.

Our columns round out this issue with some insightful and astute writing.

Norm Tabler tackles an oddity in the language used in judicial opinions in his “Curmudgeon Corner” column. Stephen Terrell discusses the ubiquity and style of the megachurch in his “On Second Thought” column. David Kaufman, in his “The Weakest Link” column, shows how actualizing a thought can lead to a positive outcome.

Finally, Michael Richmond has prepared a justice playlist for this issue. Michael has selected poignant, topical, and just plain fun songs. If you have any suggestions for songs to add to the list, please send them to sethdkramer@gmail. Check the next few issues of Voice of Experience, the monthly newsletter of the Senior Lawyers Division, for any additions suggested by you, our readers.

I hope that you find the articles and columns in this issue as thoughtful and thought-provoking as I did.

Onward!