For the most part engineers are the fall guy's for their management. Engineers are at the top of the hill testing GEN John Sedgwick statements. Your theme would have been mute if he had had a few engineers.
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Wright [mailto:chrisw@skypoint.com]
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 1:41 AM
To: ?
Subject: RE: [PipingDesign] OT: Expat Piping Designers
>A lawyer earning public esteem? Thats a good one.
>A lawyer taking personal responsibility? Stop it; you'll make me die
>laughing.
I know a lot of lawyers. They're no different as a group than engineers
or dry wall contractors. Some good, some bad, some saints, some thieves.
As a group they're technically illiterate, but generally a lot better
company than engineers. And they tend not to be such cheapskates. It's a
pity you don't know a Russ Melton. Or a Ty Bujold. Or a Greg Bulinski.
There's a lot of misunderstanding about what lawyers are hired to take responsibility for. I certainly didn't realize it before I started doing expert witness work. The first thing to realize is that lawyers don't do anything on their own--there's always a client. And none of those clients cares a fig about justice or truth or constitutional principles--they want is to beat a rap, whether or not they did the deed, or get out from under something, regardless of who's responsible. People who rail about litigious societies or chiselling plaintiffs need to remember that for every chiselling plaintiff looking to cash in on a moment's stupidity, there's an arrogant defendant looking to evade responsibility for something equally stupid. And next time you look at yourself, imagine facing DWI charges or that third speeding ticket. When you hire a lawyer, you're not looking for justice, you're looking to beat a rap. If your lawyer ends up getting you off on a technicality, I bet fairness or personal responsibility is the last thing on your mind.
As for the actual point--whether lawyers take personal responsibility for a case, they stick their necks out every time they go to trial. It's like a duel--your reputation rides on how the case comes out, even if it's a total loser. Plaintiff attorneys don't get paid unless there's a settlement--that's personal responsibility. I don't know of any engineers who'd work under those circumstances. I know plenty of lawyers who work 60 hour weeks without a single whimper about no overtime, but that's all you hear from captive engineers.
And I have absolutely no doubt that not too many engineers have what it takes to look a client in the eye and tell them that the redesign failed and they'll be dead in two months. Doctors can't just send out a resume or bitch about stupid management if it looks like the patient's dying, they have to do everything they can. That's another aspect of personal responsibility.
Life's tough--you don't get rich and you don't get recognized when you work for someone else. Recognition comes from sticking your neck out and not running with the herd. I don't have much that's nice to say about the absolutely obscene legal fees that the tobacco plaintiff attorneys pulled down, but they deserve the money a hell of a lot more than the tobacco execs they shook down and not any less than People like Roger Smith or Michael Eiler or half the Fortune 500 execs. It's just the way of the world.
Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen. ___________________________| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw
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