Greed both among the public in general and in the legal profession in particular can lead to individuals and corporations demanding ridiculously large sums in damages and lawyers charging equally ridiculously large sums in fees. With such money at stake, more people will become lawyers, and create more and more work for themselves. The consequence is delay, expense, and an inability by deserving plaintiffs to get prompt justice.
There is a growing reliance on bureaucratic and legal means to solve personal conflicts, undermining our status as thinking adults. We are abdicating our capacity to deal directly with perceived or real offences, yielding the power of control and resistance to lawyers and bureaucrats. Using legal means to resolve personal problems is no longer a last resort but a routine solution to conflict resolution.
Between 1962 and 1982 lawsuits filed at USA Federal courts tripled from 85,802 to 238,875 - and that number increases annually. At present, state and local courts have 8 million suits pending, or one for every 20 adult US citizens. Of these, 60,000 are suits against producers of asbestos.