Encyclopedia of Humor

The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced last week that they were going to start using lawyers instead of rats in their experiments. Naturally, the American Bar Association was outraged and filed suit. Yet, the NIH presented some very good reasons for the switch.

1. The lab assistants were becoming very attached to their little rats. This emotional involvement was interfering with the research being conducted. No such attachment could form for a lawyer.

2. Lawyers breed faster and are in much greater supply.

3. Lawyers are much cheaper to care for and the humanitarian societies won’t jump all over you no matter what you’re studying.

4. There are some things even a rat won’t do.

At the United Way in a fairly small town a volunteer worker noticed that the most successful lawyer in the whole town hadn’t made a contribution. This guy was making about $600,000 a year so the volunteer thought, “Why not call him up?”

He calls up the lawyer.

“Sir, according to our research you haven’t made a contribution to the United Way, would you like to do so?”

The lawyer responds, “A contribution? Does your research show that I have an invalid mother who requires expensive surgery once a year just to stay alive?”

The worker is feeling a bit embarrassed and says, “Well, no sir, I’m…”

“Does your research show that my sister’s husband was killed in a car accident? She has three kids and no means of support!”

The worker is feeling quite embarrassed at this point. “I’m terribly sorry…”

“Does your research show that my brother broke his neck on the job and now requires a full time nurse to have any kind of normal life?”

The worker is completely humiliated at this point. “I am sorry sir, please forgive me…”

“The gall of you people! I don’t give them anything, so why should I give it to you!”

A client who felt his legal bill was too high asked his lawyer to itemize costs. The statement included this item:

“Was walking down the street and saw you on the other side. Walked to the corner to cross at the light, crossed the street and walked quickly to catch up with you. Got close and saw it wasn’t you. -$50.00.”

An independent woman started her own business. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in. Pretty soon she realized she needed an in-house counsel, and so she began interviewing young lawyers.

“As I’m sure you can understand,” she started off with one of the first applicants, “in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question.” She leaned forward. “Mr. Peterson, are you an ‘honest’ lawyer?”

“Honest?” replied the job prospect. “Let me tell you something about honest. Why, I’m so honest that my dad lent me fifteen thousand dollars for my education and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case.”

“Impressive. And what sort of case was that?”

He squirmed in his seat and admitted, “My dad sued me for the money.”

A lawyer calls his client to tell him about his fee schedule.

“Alright,” the lawyer says looking through his papers. “You owe me $1000 down and $417.58 cents each month for the next thirty-six months.

“What! That sounds like a car payment schedule,” retorted the client.

“Your right. It’s mine.”