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Howard Profiled by The Financial Times "Trial Lawyers Are Put on Trial"
Jon Robins
The Financial Times, February 3, 2005  Common Good chair Philip K. Howard is the subject of a Financial Times profile discussing everything from the impact of legal fear on society to the current efforts at reform and why they don't go far enough.
The simple fear of being sued, Mr. Howard argues, is enough to keep people from feeling comfortable using their judgment. "People are in the habit of saying: 'I am going to get me a lawyer', and just that threat--even the faintest possibility of a threat--changes behavior. What seems to be happening in the US--and in the UK--isn't so much this wave of crazy lawsuits that we hear about, but the idea that when something goes wrong you might be able to bring a lawsuit."
Mr. Howard goes on to explain that the idea behind Common Good, "is to restore the freedom of people to use their common sense and the authority to make common choices." And while current efforts to reduce the number of lawsuits, like cutting lawyers' fees and limiting punitive damages, are a step in the right direction, they are "like Band Aids applied to a mortal wound."
Common Good's mission is supported by John Whitehead, the retired chair of Goldman Sachs and current head of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which oversees the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Whitehead told Financial Times, "Tort reform has focused on particular symptoms of a broken legal system--such as asbestos or abusive class actions. ... Common Good is taking on the underlying flaw--a legal system in which judges and legislatures no longer draw the boundaries of who can sue for what."
Read the story in The Financial Times.
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