Walter K. Olson's
latest book,
The Rule of
Lawyers (St. Martin's, 2003) has been hailed everywhere from
Barron's (a "marvelous combination of irony, insight and outrage")
and Forbes ("truly gripping" and "brilliant") to
The American Lawyer
("wry, amusing", "provocative and enjoyable").
In this 28-minute
interview, Andrew Napolitano,
Senior Judicial Analyst of the FOX News Channel, hosts a lively
discussion with Walter and Steve Hantler, formerly with Chrysler LLC,
about the book, its revelations about the tactics of the trial bar and how the business
community can respond.
Under insightful
questioning from Napolitano, Olson and Hantler address such
topics as why and how the trial bar uses its "playbook" to
create pressure on corporations to drive down stock price and
coerce exorbitant settlements, how the trial bar influences
judicial appointments, and what companies are likely to be the
next targets of the trial bar.
Hantler and Olson lay
out why the business community has failed to gain comprehensive
tort reform thus far. They describe the integrated
strategy it will take to achieve significant reform,
particularly at the state level.
Finally, they point
out steps that CEOs need to take, both to improve their success
in dealing with the trial bar and to ensure that the business
community takes advantage of the current momentum favoring
reform to achieve measurable
results.
The
Rule of Lawyers:
