Judicial Jeremiads: A Review of Rudolph Gerber’s Lawyers, Courts, and Professionalism

Abstract

Judge Rudolph Gerber utters a despairing cry about the condition of the justice system in his recently published book entitled: Lawyers, Courts, and Professionalism: The Agenda for Reform (1989). While Judge Gerber cites a host of causes for his anguish including the absence of high ideals within the legal profession, an overabundance of combativeness amongst lawyers, the avoidance of moral education in law schools, and an excess of delay in the courts, at heart his concern is with the adversary system of justice itself. The thrust of his argument is exemplified in the following passage: Burdened with delay, cost, complexity, and theatrics, the present U.S. court system offers legalized extortion instead of its historic promise of true conflict resolution based on merit. A good part of its extortionate character stems from manipulation and economically oppressive tactics that have nothing to do with legal merit. Much of it involves shinkicking even before the ball is snapped. Like football, our courts emphasize strategy, tactics, and low blows. They suffer from litigants' lack of parity and a pursuit of victory rather than truth ?attributes perfectly acceptable for a mere game of force. Today's justice system has become Levi-Strauss's hot society whose pursuit of complexity exhausts its original raison d'etre. It exemplifies Heidegger's forgetfulness of justice as litigants devour themselves in a no-win cockfight. In many cases its harm exceeds its good, for it dismantles rather than builds the city wall by increasing rather than reducing civilian rancor. (Gerber, 1989:98-99)