@Bendog haven't needed one yet, in 68 years. BUT, that has been due to a lot of extraordinarily good luck at not getting caught; and, for having reasonable exes, among other things ?.

that is not always within one's control. nasty people sometimes get litigious; innocent people sometimes get accused and even arrested. we have a legal right to a court-appointed lawyer in the latter case. does it always happen? i am lucky enough not to know. i hope i never need to know.

g

@genessa "that is not always..." but when it is, it is the best case scenario. That's the one I am talking about. Prevent the preventable.....if not then that's another story and I understand what you're trying to say.

@IamNobody respectfully, i submit that sometimes we have to make decisions that seem foolish to others. i'm not talking about "don't rob a bank if you don't want to be arrested." i'm talking about civil disobedience, which is undertaken with the knowledge that the cops might not play fairly, for one good example. i don't know the percentage of arrested, or indicted, or tried people who turn out to be innocent, but those people, whether they did anything, or tried to avoid anything, or not, find they need lawyers anyway. people who are wronged need lawyers too, and that is not always, or even usually as far as i know, the result of their careless actions. i was named in a lawsuit once. i had worked for an editor and publisher who hated each other, on a book that was to have been an annual list of every movie ever made (ambitious much?) only the first edition ever came out. the publisher bought out the editor and proceeded to find a backer, who bought the book and published it. it was published with both of their names (and mine, and two other people's) on it. the editor sued us for plagiarism. plagiarism is when you claim someone else's words as your own. he was suing us for giving him credit for work he did! he hadn't stipulated, when he sold his share, that his name be left off, nor had he even requested that. it was a total shock to us. what did we do wrong? what care could we have taken? if we'd left his name OFF he could've legitimately sued us for plagiarism! as it was, he was suing us because he was a nasty piece of work, and for no other reason. i don't think this is uncommon! so yes, prevent the preventable, but don't expect that to prevent much!

g

p..s he dropped dead of a heart attack before the suit got very far. i suspect had it proceeded, we would have won, since his claim was ridiculous. but ridiculous claims do proceed, and lawyers are needed for those too!

@genessa well I have never needed one this far and I am not expecting to need one for the time I have left.

@IamNobody i hope you never need one. i have only needed one in order to appeal social security's decisions not to grant me benefits (i eventually did get them). i hope i never need one again. however, our expectations can be dashed at any time.

g