Lawyers are less than 1% of American s, 1 they are well-represented in government. Both the president and the vice-president trained as lawyers. 2 did 55% of senators and 100% of Supreme Court justices. There are 3 to having a bit of legal expertise among those who write and 4 the nation"s laws, or assess their constitutionality. But there is also a potential conflict of interest. 5 florists had such a lock on the levers of 6 , you might expect subsidies for weddings and a campaign to beautify cities. Lawyers, alas, are no more 7 .
The American legal system is the most lawyer-friendly on Earth. It is dizzily 8 . The regulations that accompany the Dodd-Frank law governing Wall Street, 9 , are already more than 3 million words long—and not yet half-written. Companies must hire 10 lawyers to guide them 11 a labyrinth (迷宫) created by other lawyers. They must also hire lawyers to 12 themselves against attacks by other lawyers on a playing field 13 by lawyers. The cost—roughly $800 a year for every American—is 14 to consumers. The 15 are hard to detect. Americans are probably no less likely to be injured or cheated than the citizens of countries 16 spend a fraction as much.
17 it is hard to feel sympathy for lawyers facing a 18 labour market. America"s 250 biggest law firms shed more than 9500 people last year. Law students are 19 to find the lavishly paid work they expected after graduation. One big law firm even went bust. None of this is nice for the people 20 , especially those with large student debts.