by Brian Mahany
Unless we suddenly find ourselves at war with Syria, Iran or North Korea, our troops will not be in combat for the first time in many years. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t waging other types of war. Evil is everywhere around us.
We have the highest respect for our troops and the veterans who proudly served. As I write this, my father’s American flag sits in a display case on my night stand, a “gift from a thankful nation”. (Dad was a combat veteran and fighter pilot.)
Most people in this nation have never been in actual combat. Thankfully so. While many Americans (primarily males) dress in camo and experience “combat” by watching Sunday football, others of us become cops, prosecutors or fight the forces of evil in the courtroom. Why? Because we all have the warrior spirit. Some more than others.
Earlier today I received an email from a client; someone who is losing their house because of a wrongful foreclosure by Bank of America. I say “wrongful” because the bank misplaced her payments and then declared her in default. It should be an easy problem to fix but Bank of America is a huge bureaucracy. It’s like a giant ocean liner except there is no captain and no officers on the deck to give orders or take responsibility for problems. This is what she wrote:
“[This] also affirms why what you do is so important Brian. It takes a lot for anyone to even believe they have a fighting chance against big corporations. But then when we finally get fed up enough and muster the strength to stand up for ourselves, nobody wants to hear us. You realize immediately that your voice means nothing if nobody’s listening, and suddenly you’re the most insignificant noise to them. Too big to care, and too big to hear anyone. So you become our voice. And that means more than I can ever express.”
Thankfully, I never had to fire a weapon in anger as a police officer and my generation was spared the horrors of war. But all of us have a bit of warrior inside us. Happily, I have found a profession that provides a meaningful outlet for that aggression and energy.
We live in a society today that feels to even speak of aggression is politically incorrect. We are quietly losing our freedoms and many people now believe that their vote is meaningless. Doom and gloom isn’t inevitable, however. Nor is corruption, dishonest politicians or greed. There is a choice and there are good lawyers still willing to take up the good fight.
When I was a cop I always told my friends that I hoped they never needed my services. I say the same thing today as a lawyer. But if your home or business is on the line, we are here to help. We can’t take every case – or even most cases – but we handle fraud cases in many jurisdictions and are willing to take on the biggest of opponents.
The great equalizer is the American jury system. We trial lawyers aren’t the heroes. The men and women who watch football on Sunday, who hold down jobs to support their families or who are simply are our neighbors – they are the real heroes and get to be warriors when serving on a jury. As long as we have a jury system we can level the playing field and achieve real justice.
[Ed. Note: This is not our usual post about fraud or tax topics. From time to time we take a little editorial license and write about why we do what we do.]