It's a Dangerous Job . . .

Say what you want about lawyers, but we do a dangerous job. In the news tonight, sources report that the judge presiding over the case against Saddam Hussein was assassinated outside his house in Baghdad. But don't just chalk that up to violence in the middle east.

This past week, a Tyler, Texas courthouse was shot up and three people killed by a man upset about being taken to court for child support. A federal judge in Chicago is currently under marshals' protection after authorities are investigating whether the death of her family members (her husband and elderly mother) were caused by white supremacist who had previously threatened her life. In 2003, a lawyer in a probate case was shot outside a California courthouse. In my own hometown thirteen years ago, a gunman upset about his impending divorce opened fire at the the county courthouse, killing two people. Because of that incident, metal detectors were installed at the courthouse.

The law evokes very strong emotions in people, and it creates an atmosphere ripe for unstable people to go over the edge. So next time you see a lawyer, don't try out your newest lawyer joke, which he has undoubtedly already heard. How 'bout giving him a hug? Or at least a hand shake.