[geebee]

The "lawsuit as car crash" analogy is a pretty good analogy. You pay a lawyer now as insurance against getting crushed by the legal system later.

If you step back, it is reasonable to ask why we have a legal system where driving without a seatbelt is actually a pretty good analogy for hiring without a lawyer.

And I think that we ought to acknowledge that the system remains this way, at least in part, because it leads to many lucrative billable hours for lawyers.

[anthonyb]

The car crash in this case would be getting sued by an (ex)employee for lots of money - not paying your lawyer for lots of billable hours. It's the litigation-happy culture that you live in which causes the pain.