Jay Edelson

Silicon Valley purports to hate the legal system. To hear the tech world tell it, lawyers are leeches and regulations are mostly outdated. Lawsuits stifle innovation and waste money that startups could better spend developing products and recruiting more users, thereby making the world a better place.

Theranos, the health technology company once valued at $9 billion, is making its investors’ blood run cold.

When a public interest group wants to create new legal precedent, its first step is to find a client with sympathetic facts. Civil rights groups often search for figurehead plaintiffs with impeccable characters and captivating life stories. The National Rifle Association searches for clients with strong gun safety records and compelling reasons to own guns. None of this is improper—it’s a strategic approach for cause-oriented litigation.