Everything has a price, including dignity, and at some point, the lawyers at Paul Weiss and other

law firms will say our dignity is not worth the firm. We would rather see the firm go down than

do these outrageous things. I'm Bethany McLean. Did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed's a good idea?

And I'm Luigi Zengalis. We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.

And this is Capital Isn't, a podcast about what is working in capitalism. First of all, tell me, is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed?

And most importantly, what is it?

We ought to do better by the people that get left behind.

I don't think we should have killed the capital system in the process.

A necessary condition for a capitalist system to develop and thrive

is the presence of the so-called rule of law.

It's universally recognized as the foundation not only of any economic development,

but also of our freedom. The conservative Austrian economist Ludwig van Meises

claims that it is, quote, the rule of law alone which hinders the rulers from turning themselves into the worst

gangsters. An independent judiciary is the first pillar of a rule of law system. The second one

is a free legal profession. Robert Gorton, a professor of law and legal history at Yale,

elegantly summarizes the role of lawyers. Lawyers are to be

independent, yet lawyer to clients. Stranders advocate for client's position, yet also supportive

of aims of some degree of social solidarity, bearers of universal cosmopolitan norms, but builders

of nations and national cultures, resisters of predatory states,

but not subvertors of legitimate state authority, governors of self-regulating autonomous professional

bodies, but not unduly self-interested.

Wow, according to that, the ideal lawyer is a pretty perfect person. But lawyers,

...