Writing as the Legal Affairs correspondent for the September 19, 2007, issue of Human Events, propagandist Ann Coulter smears trial attorneys, especially former Senator John Edwards, and also initiates a blatant falsehood.
Coulter sweepingly asserts that trial attorneys are heartless and greedy "charlatans" who prey on doctors and that Democratic presidential candidate and noted trial attorney John Edwards in particular is a "parasite" because he has championed patients' rights and has sued to hold doctors accountable for malpractice. Coulter contrasts her claims with the fact that doctors show they care about improving society by working for organizations such as Doctors Without Borders.
Coulter asks, "Has anyone else noticed the nonexistence of a charitable organization known as 'Lawyers Without Borders'?"
So Coulter asserts. However, in fact, there IS a U.S.-based charitable organization called exactly that. Yet Coulter did not bother to check her facts.
Lawyers Without Borders bills itself as "the world’s largest group of volunteer lawyers from around the globe who stand ready to offer pro bono service to worldwide projects and initiatives."
Coulter, who holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, ought to know that law firms, nonprofit legal organizations, and individual attorneys from the U.S. and many other nations donate time and services to Lawyers Without Borders. Currently, the organization focuses on advocating for human rights and supporting the rule of law in Ethiopia, Liberia, Cameroon, Namibia, Palestinian Territories (Israel), Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
Al Franken and others have previously documented shoddy research, mischaracterizations, and misleading statements by polemicist Ann Coulter. Perhaps it's time she forfeited her claim to being a conservative columnist and instead be known as what she is: a reckless calumnist.
But the baseless smear of trial lawyers is not the biggest whopper that Coulter tells in her latest column. The biggest whopper is her lede: "The only 'crisis' in health care in this country is that doctors are paid too little." Go back and check your facts, Ms. Coulter.
How To Get Involved
To join Lawyers Without Borders, contact Luvean Myers at 860-541-2288 or mail a check or money order to:
Lawyers Without Borders
750 Main Street
Suite 1500
Hartford CT 06103 USA
Attn: Membership
Please note: Lawyers Without Borders, which is headquartered in the U.S., is not related to Avocats sans Frontieres (AsF), which in translation means also "lawyers without borders."
So actually, there is not one organization named Lawyers Without Borders: there are two. Not that this matters to Ann Coulter, who is a Liar Without Borders.
Update: For more information on what Lawyers Without Borders accomplishes, and why their work is vital, check out the Legal Talk Network's audio interview with the group's director, Christina Storm.