Statistics for Lawyers May be Important to Cases

Despite Mark Twain’s opinion about statistics and how they can be manipulated, it is still important that everyone have an understanding about them and how to read them. Often times a company will seemingly make a blanket statement about the impact that its operation has on the environment and use scientifically achieved statistics to back the statement up. The fine print, however, will reveal where the company is being less than true. Statistics for lawyers, journalists and other detail oriented professions, on whom the public depends for safety, information, and lives free from the scourge of profits over people that unbridled capitalism breeds, are more than just numbers on a page. They are the means to tearing down and building up arguments that have importance in the everyday lives of everyone around them.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

When someone is quoting statistics it is important to know what that person actually measured. For example, a company may say that it only contributes to 3.8 percent of the pollution during an inversion. However, when looking at the fine print, the company only measured the particulate emissions. That means that any gases were not measured in that number. If the same company claims to be only responsible for 5.8 percent of the pollution year round, it doesn’t mean that in the summer the company is only responsible for that much. Because it is an average, the company is actually responsible for much more pollution in the summer to balance out the smaller number in the winter.

Why Does it Matter?

The reason why these might be important statistics for lawyers is because of someone brings a law suit against the company after a child dies from an asthma attack, it is important for the lawyer to be able to break down what it is that the company has actually done. If the child’s asthma was triggered by a reaction to some other chemical that the company releases in the course of its normal operations, it may not even matter how much particulate pollution it is responsible for. Corporations are in the habit of protecting themselves through any means necessary. That may mean outright lying as was the case with cigarette companies up through the ‘80s. It may also mean just talking about the good things that the company is doing. That is what public relations is about. The U.S. needs people like lawyers and journalists to protect it and its citizens from greed.