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\u201cEveryone is entitled to a defense\u201d contend large law firms when they represent notorious corporate clients, but many of these firms push the ethical envelope. That\u2019s the crux of the discussion Ralph has with David Enrich as outlined in his book, \u201cServants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice.\u201d Plus, we welcome Dr. Michael Jacobson, founder, and former director of Science in the Public Interest to tell us how we need to raise taxes on Science in the Public Interest to reduce alcohol-related deaths and mayhem.

David Enrich\xa0is the Business Investigations Editor at the\xa0New York Times, and the bestselling author of\xa0Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction. His latest book is\xa0Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice.

There\u2019s a lot of lip service that the leaders of the legal industry pay to being good corporate citizens and being public-spirited officers of the court. And you often scratch a little bit beneath the surface of these giant law firms, and you realize that is just not true.

David Enrich, author of\xa0Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice

It was very clear to me the vast power that these law firms were wielding, not only defending their clients in and out of court, but also shaping the public\u2019s perception of how these fights were transpiring\u2014\xa0 in large part through the media. It\u2019s more or less taboo\u2014 in the mainstream media in particular\u2014 to really pull back the curtain on the way that those law firms are operating

David Enrich, author of\xa0Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice

[Jones Day] is not a monolith, and it\u2019s not a place that I regard as evil. But it\u2019s really a classic example of a place where even well-intentioned lawyers go, and\u2014to make a living or to repay their debts or whatever\u2014and they sometimes end up really pushing the envelope.

David Enrich, author of\xa0Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice

When they say \u201cwe believe in the position of the clients we represent\u2026\u201d it really isn\u2019t true. They don\u2019t believe in all the positions of their clients. And when you nail them on that issue, they say \u201cWell, we\u2019re required by the professional code of ethics of our profession to zealously represent these clients. It\u2019s not up to us to expose their Achilles heel\u2014 that\u2019s what the adversarial system is for.\u201d

Ralph Nader

Michael Jacobson\xa0holds a PhD. in microbiology from MIT. He is well-known for his nutrition advocacy that helped eliminate artificial trans-fat from the food supply, expose the enormous calorie counts of movie theater popcorn and many restaurant foods and make Nutrition Facts mandatory on food packages. Dr. Jacobson is the author of\xa0Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet.

There\u2019s no doubt that raising alcohol taxes would raise the price of alcoholic beverages, and consumption would decline. For any kind of\xa0imaginable\xa0tax increase, alcohol problems and deaths would not go to zero. But there would be a\xa0significant\xa0decline in proportion to the increase in tax rates.

Dr. Michael Jacobson

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