Ladd: Nationalized legal service, healthcare, and campaign finance reform

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http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-09-30/news/politics-city-county-government/william-ladd-nationalized-legal-services">William Ladd: Nationalized legal service
SDNN

Unlike health care, legal services have actually been a nationally proscribed right for a long time. If a defendant can’t afford a lawyer, one is provided for him by the government.

The courts are government agencies. The prosecutors are already government-paid. I propose a single payor national legal system, where people of all economic strata have equal access to legal representation, and lawyers are paid the same rate by the government for all cases, regardless of the income of the client. There would be no need for contingency cases, no longer any need for “pro bono” work, no need for private payments. I think this would be a huge and much-needed improvement in our legal services system.

This nationalized legal system should be instituted in parallel with health care financing reform, as I think, in many ways, the two are related. All should have access to health care, because human life is at stake. All should have access to legal services, because the legal profession frequently deals in matters that concern life and death, as well as freedom versus confinement, and wealth versus poverty... http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-09-30/news/politics-city-county-government/william-ladd-nationalized-legal-services">Read more

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-09-30/news/politics-city-county-government/william-ladd-nationalized-legal-services