This is an interesting post from Law Prof blog. I have nothing against law schools, but we definitely should not restrict the practice of law to only those people who go to law school (or even only those people who pass a bar exam). I feel the same way about doctors. If you have the skill and training to do the work, who cares whether you got that through an “apprenticeship,” on the job training, in a trade school or at a Big Ten institution (Go Blue!). Barriers to market participation simply allow those who are “in” to charge monopoly rents for their services – and the claim that these barriers somehow improve the quality of service are dubious. There are a heck of a lot of bad lawyers and bad doctors out there who get through all the school and pass all the tests.
