Fun_People Archive
31 May
need a lawyer?

Date: Mon, 31 May 93 12:52:06 PDT
To: Fun_People
Subject: need a lawyer?

 From: <pep@research.att.com>
 From the 5/20/93 edition of "The Westfield Leader":

With 656 new attorneys who recently passed the state bar examination,
New Jersey will have one lawyer for every 153 residents, more licensed
attorneys per capita than any other state in the Union.

[ The new state total is 50,546 attorneys. ]
By comparison, there are 45,502 state, county, municipal and university
law enforcement officers, 34,867 criminals behind bars and 17,500
physicians.
 . . .
 . . . in 1992, the number of licensed attorneys grew by 3,700, a
figure . . . greater than the total number of lawyers in a number of
smaller states.  In Montana, for example, the total number of licensed
lawyers is 2,161, according to the American Bar Association, in South
Dakota 1,385, and in Wyoming, 1,385.
 . . .
In New York, there are 95,859 attorneys, one for every 188 residents.
In Massachusetts, there are 29,764, one for every 202 residents. . . .
In California, there are 104,201 attorneys, one for every 286 residents.

[So what I want to know is, if there is such a surplus of lawyers, why ain't
they cheap?  For extra-credit: Is this an argument for or against supply-side
economics?  -psl]

© 1993 Peter Langston