Tom Paxton was right, it seems

[thatcrazycajun]

From a query on the total number of licensed, practicing attorneys in the US, to WikiAnswers:
According to the American Bar Association, there were 1,116, 967 licensed attorneys in June of 2006. The number rose to 1,128,729 by the end of 2006, and grew to 1,143,358 by the end of 2007.

23 years ago, folksinger Tom Paxton tried to warn us this would happen...all for naught, it seems. As I watch Boston Legal tonight, recall the flood of lawyers deployed nationwide last week to monitor election results and deal with challenges to voters' eligibility, and now the court cases pending on California's Proposition 8, I found myself hearing Tom's fateful words again: "Lawyers on pogo sticks / lawyers in politics..." (Emphasis added.)

With all due respect to those of my friends who are lawyers themselves (hi, khaosworks, dan_ad_nauseam and osewalrus!)...do we really need this many? And did we pass the million mark within the decade from 1985 that Tom predicted, or did it take longer? Just wondering...

Comments

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Probably not. But (a) many people get law degrees and don't practice. It's useful in a variety of professions. (b) And whom should we keep out? I think we could happily eliminate a fair number of other professions. But no one asks my permission on whether we need more party planners or dog psychiatrists.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do about this. Oh, and remember, I'm a legal secretary, so I need to have lawyers around to pay my salary!

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

I decline to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself. :-)

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind having this many, as long as MOST of them aren't like the law professor I worked for at Duke. *shudder*