However, something of greater importance seems to reside behind the appearance of numerous legal service advertisements. The marketing of these services might relate to the existence of Stone Cities in Connecticut and the Bronx. There is also the matter of Uncertainty (one of the VCUA-Plus conditions). If you don’t know what going to happen next in your life and if you don’t trust your own family and “tribe” to protect you when things go bad, then you need to find external, professional, paid protection. Call Anh Phoong!
While those living in the tenement buildings of the Bronx usually can’t afford legal services, there is plenty of money to be found in the Connecticut building for the purchase of high-cost legal assistance. Those on the 16th floor of the Stamford high rise might actually need more legal protect than is the case with the 12th floor tenement dweller, given that these corporate folks are more likely to be immediately impacted by the condition of Uncertainty. I suspect that even those living on the 12th floor of a Bronx high-rise can envision receiving a large chunk of money from an injury they sustained at work or from the poorly managed health care they have received. Given that some lawyers market themselves as those “who only get paid with a successful settlement”, the tenement residents might dream of engaging legal services.
Most importantly, legal services are ultimately only needed when the trust among citizens of a country is shattered. Robert Bellah and his colleagues (Bellah and others, 1985) write about the “habits of the heart” that pervaded earlier American communities. These communities were founded on the basis of shared trust (Bergquist, 2025). In a community where trust is fully present, disagreement can be resolved without litigation; injury can be compensated based on handshake agreements.
Fundamentally, it is a matter of collective responsibility (sociopetal pulling toward) offsetting individual rights (sociofugal pushing away from). If the individualism of “organization man” and “gray flannel suit man” is still lingering in our shared psyche, then lawyers rather than local leaders, church leaders or a wise community elder are required. If there is still a “lazy” fall into corporate or tenement conformity, then it is perfectly appropriate that we call our lawyer (or one of the lawyers on the billboards) when things a bit strained and an interpersonal relationship (such as marriage) is broken. “Everyone else is doing it, so why don’t I. Someone might take advantage of me if I don’t’ have legal representation.” Stone requires law in a mid-21st century city such as the Bronz.
