Should the US Eliminate Entry Barriers to the Practice of Law? Perspectives Shaped by Industry Deregulation

摘要

States' requirements that lawyers obtain a license to practice law, as well as American Bar Association (ABA) regulations of legal practice, constitute barriers to entry to the legal profession. Specifically, all but a handful of states require would-be lawyers to graduate from ABA-accredited law schools, and every state except Wisconsin requires them to pass a bar exam. Before the Great Recession, law schools rejected nearly half of all their applicants, and many capable individuals are either unwilling or unable to spend three years in law school and graduate with debts that can easily exceed $150,000. Under ABA requirements, firms that sell legal services must be owned and managed by lawyers who are licensed to practice in the United States, meaning that corporations and foreign law firms cannot compete in this market.