Why does it take so long to become a lawyer? Why do laywers have a monopoly?

[James]

I think the UPL laws make it a technical monopoly . . .

Because other people can't give legal advice unless they join the legal profession, which isn't based on competency.

You can get certified in aspects of electronics, which is demonstrating competency without having to jump through artifical hoops.

One of the points the article makes is that up until the 50's you didn't need to even go to law school. Most lawyers served apprenticeships in legal firms and learned the law.

Many of them never finished undergrad. Nor was law school necessarily considered a "grad school."

When the liscensing requirements were made, none of the people that already practiced law were forced to demonstrate competency.

This means that all the law did was create a barrier to entry for NEW lawyers.

One of the reasons why law fees are so high is because the cost of becoming a lawyer is very high. Its going to be around 7 years of a person's life and its going to cost 60,000-100,000 dollars .. . just for the law school part.

And thats just to begin to study law because you really aren't ready to practice just from law school. Although curicuulums have become better.

I sympathize with them because so much of it is unnecessary.