When There Are Too Many Lawyers

Book excerpt: If you've ever been involved in a petty squabble and found yourself before the courts you might want to read this astonishing story. A dispute over $115, with a nudge from the legal system, took on a life of its own and over ten years involved every court in the country including the High Court of Australia.Tired of pedestrian legal advice and ballooning costs, reluctant hero, Alan Manly, a self-acknowledged manic obsessive compulsive former postman, former television repairman and would-be entrepreneur with a ninth grade education, sacked his lawyers and took on the system.In this thrilling account he finds himself accused, sued, defamed, assaulted - stumbling over shams, sexual predators and suicide, unemployed and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy - his life virtually a smoking ruin. In this David and Goliath rematch he exposes the legal system that so easily crushes the innocent. Sometimes hilarious, even ridiculous, but a true Australian story.