Beware Young Crusading Lawyers in Pinstripes

One such group -- Youth Law Center -- did immeasurable damage to Utah's children and Department of Child and Family Services by a lawsuit accusing the department of neglecting foster children. They bombarded the Court with half-baked allegations and statistics, got a trustee place over the department, and orders for rushed placing of children and hiring of social workers. The hurried hiring, training, and placing process burned out over half of the new workers who quit -- costing Utah millions then and after.

Amazingly, during this same time the national association of such agencies rated Utah's department one of the ten best in the nation. Watch out for these young lawyers-with-a-cause, who staff the so-called "public interest law firms" granted charity status by the IRS. Most share an acid, cynical view of our society -- reflected by such groups as ACLU activists, GreenPeace, PETA, and gay lesbian activists. these crusaders gain exciting trial experience and notoriety, do their damage, and then they mellow, grow temperate, and ride off into a law career elsewhere.

But the damage thy do, the contention they stir up, and the costs to society are immeasurable. Rue the day the government decided to subsidize them with charity IRC 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Let people with causes fund their own litigation, I say.