Why So Many Lawyers? Are They Good or Bad?

Abstract

In this essay, Dean Clark examines the popular notion that the United States has too many lawyers and that this abundance burdens the nation. While acknowledging the great growth of law and lawyers in recent decades, Dean Clark argues that, before denouncing this trend, we should first seek to develop a fuller explanation of its causes and consequences. After discussing just what it is that lawyers do, Dean Clark critiques three current "cancerous growth" theories that attempt to explain why there has been such a great and unhealthy increase in the number of lawyers Dean Clark then offers and analyzes four "benign growth" theories-theories based on the assumption that the increasing demand for lawyers'services is an understandable consequence of fundamental social, political, and economic changes. Throughout the essay, Dean Clark indicates areas where additional research may yield a deeper understanding of the forces that shape the roles that lawyers assume in society and the demand for legal services.