Stuarts' Odd Definitions (SODs): Solicitor

Image via Wikipedia
I'm adding a little darkhumour and devising some definitions of my own. Since I generally rely on theShorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) to inspire my 'real' definitions forthe Daily Word Spot, I thought I'd use the acronym SOD for my own odddefinitions. Here's the second of what will become an irregular series.
Solicitor: noun - an individual for whom law is amoney tree, someone more interested in law than justice, an encourager ofconflict, a partner in a firm set up to rob honest folk of their hard-earnedcash, any member of a gang devoted to separating law-abiding citizens fromtheir inheritance, a frustrated actor, a person willing to ensure the guilty gofree if enough payment is received for the service, a member of the House ofCommons who ensures that laws are made and kept as complex as possible so thatthe man in the street will be forced to employ him or her to interpret them.
Okay, so I might be beinga bit hard. I do actually know a couple of people who are or were solicitorsand who manage to remain pleasant people. But they are few and far between, Ifear. I'd be interested to learn your experiences of the legal profession.
1825 - The first publicrailroad using steam locomotives was completed in England. The network ofpublic transport first slowly and then rapidly expanded to carry people allover the country at reasonable cost and in growing comfort. Then, in the 1960sDr Beeching, at the behest of the Conservative government then in power, wrotea report, which resulted in over 6,000 miles of track being taken out ofservice, along with more than 3,000 stations. The motivation for this waspurported to be that most people would own cars and the railways wouldtherefore become more or less obsolete. Of course, this was a self-fulfilling prophesy,as the removal of usable public transport from many locations ensured thatpeople would be forced to buy and use cars instead. I often wonder how muchmoney passed from the motor manufacturers into the hands of the politicians andothers responsible for the decline of our railway system, which was, at thetime, the envy of the world. Of course, the railways are no longer a publiccorporation but privately owned companies now struggling to replace the lostcustom and upgrade the service to cope with increasing demand. Anotherwonderful decision made by our government that only ever thinks short-term.
1945 - The World Bank wascreated with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations. It has since become aninstitution with the potential to do enormous good. It's a shame it's been sofrequently hijacked by the unethical and the exploitative to make someseriously damaging decisions, especially as far as environmental matters areconcerned. Yet more politicians buggering things up, eh?