Congratulations Ted Frank

In case you missed the announcement yesterday on Overlawyered, Ted Frank is leaving the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers on May 6 to take a new job--

I'm pleased to announce that I'm taking a dream job: on July 1, I will start at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research as a resident fellow and director of the AEI Liability Project. I should continue writing for Overlawyered, but I'll also have the additional time and freedom to do longer and more comprehensive articles and books, as well as the opportunity to work with scholars on empirical and public policy research on litigation reform issues and questions. In the words of Glenn Reynolds, I've taken the Boeing, though I'm not sure that metaphor works for a lawyer taking a paycut.

Since it's a rare event that a lawyer finds a "dream job," I plan to question Ted further about his new career as a professional tort reformer sometime next month. It will take the form of a written Q-and-A that I'll post here. In the meantime, you can learn more about the AEI Liability Project by reading its mission statement.

Comments

[Aaron]

Taking a pay cut in return for a more satisfying work and home life is very much worth it in my book.

[Ted]

Thanks for the congratulations.

[Matt]

Good for Ted. The best way to have a firm opinion on the ills of the law is not to actively practice it.

[supemacyclaus]

Ted: Ethically, can I hire you to sue Merck, now?

I tried to follow this, but got really lost.

http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/ethics/legal_ethics/opinions/opinion265.cfm

Ignore Matt. He knows not. He just knows not.

The best way to have a firm opinion on the ills of the law is to be innocent, and then be sued or arrested for the unjust enrichment of the lawyer. The best way to know of the ills of the law is to be devastated by 100 FBI Index Felony crimes, and have something done about only 1.

Naturally, the lawyer has dealt itself absolute, airtight immunity from any accountability to innocent third parties it destroys.

The law is in utter failure, and in every subject area. The law is an utility product like electricity. If the law were electricity, it would be on 1 hour a day, on a great day.