From: Alex Holzman <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2015 17:51:42 -0400

Lawyers reflect the greater society.  However fleetingly joyful it
might be to kill them all, we'd only retrain new people to do exactly
the same thing, i.e. CYA in all conceivable circumstances.  That last
requires murky language that can be interpreted to cover all sins--or
not.  That way there's hope for all.

I just don't understand why it costs $300-$500 an hour to produce that
stuff.....

Alex Holzman

On Sun, Apr 5, 2015 at 5:24 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2015 16:59:44 -0400
>
> The thread on the language of licenses is a cause for despair.  I
> really don't think we will see an improvement in this area even in the
> improbable event of many people attempting to move forward with the
> best will in the world. The resistance to improvement is too great,
> the forces dug in beyond dislocation.  Nor is this simply a matter of
> the proposed agreements between publishers and libraries.  Every
> segment of society has to wrestle with documents like this.  We could
> hope to change the licenses, but really we have to change the world.
>
> I am myself of the school that argues for killing all the lawyers, but
> I take some solace in the fact that enrollment to law schools is down
> everywhere.
>
> Consider some of the legal documents you have had to work with
> recently.  My wife and I moved 3 years ago and had to deal with
> contracts for both selling one house and purchasing another.  It was a
> terrible experience.  On an ongoing basis I have to work through
> contracts with clients.  The contracts and the contract process is
> worse with not-for-profit organizations than for commercial firms
> (which are themselves grueling to work with); university contracts are
> the worst of all.  At every turn someone must consult a lawyer, whose
> opinion is not law but God.
>
> I see no remedy for this.  Is this perhaps a fight not worth fighting?
>
> Joe Esposito