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Eric Talley on Deregulating Lawyers: Comments From a Knee-jerk Skeptic

I have spent the last few days reading the recent study by Clifford Winston, Robert W. Crandall, and Vikram Maheshri, entitled “First Thing We Do: Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers” (Brookings Institution, 2011, $19.95).  In it, the authors marshal a variety of empirical methods to argue that the current practice of state bar admission and ... Eric Talley on Deregulating Lawyers: Comments From a Knee-jerk Skeptic

Thomas Morgan on Realistic Questions About Modern Lawyer Regulation

If this symposium is asking the single question whether U.S. jurisdictions should deregulate the practice of law, my answer has to be no.  My problem is that the question itself conflates at least three questions, and the answers to each should be different. The first question is whether people other than licensed lawyers should be ... Thomas Morgan on Realistic Questions About Modern Lawyer Regulation

Gillian Hadfield on Right-Regulating Legal Markets

Although it has the zing of a slogan that I myself have often used, the call to ‘deregulate’ the legal profession is misleading.  Yes, most of us who argue that the legal profession is excessively closed to competition—in a way that hampers both access and innovation, as I have argued in recent papers—think that the ... Gillian Hadfield on Right-Regulating Legal Markets

William Henderson on Are We Asking the Wrong Questions About Lawyer Regulation?

The TOTM Unlocking the Law Symposium is designed to raise a host of questions surrounding lawyer regulation, including ending lawyer licensure requirements and the ban on non-lawyer investment. My thesis, for better or worse, is that we may be asking the wrong questions.  Despite the stringent regulations placed on lawyers, ingenious entrepreneurs—most of them non-lawyers—are ... William Henderson on Are We Asking the Wrong Questions About Lawyer Regulation?

Robert Crandall on We Need More Lawyers!

Several years ago, when Cliff Winston and I began looking at the incomes earned by lawyers, we were struck by several facts. First, after accounting for age, years of education, experience and various other demographic influences, we found that the income premium earned by lawyers had increased by about 50 percent between 1975 and 2004, ... Robert Crandall on We Need More Lawyers!

Larry Ribstein on Deregulating Lawyers Whether They Like it or Not

Much of the writing on deregulating the legal profession asks skeptically whether it could or should happen.  It was logical to wonder what could change when the profession was locked up tight by the lawyers themselves. What opposing political interest group was comparably well-organized or well-informed? Consumers could sue to break up the regulatory monopoly, ... Larry Ribstein on Deregulating Lawyers Whether They Like it or Not