I've been watching too much "Law & Order"

[rickvs]

With my limited knowledge of the law here in the United States, I can't come up with a legal objection to the following proposal:

What if both sides in any trial (criminal or civil) were allowed to toss as much money for paying their lawyers into a pot as they liked ...at which point the money was split fifty-fifty towards each party's representation? Seems that that would keep one side from railroading the other, and I don't particularly have a moral problem with the idea.

My wife says I'm just a socialist at heart, which I don't agree with, but wanted to solicit feedback.