If there's a glut of lawyers, then why are lawyer prices so high?

[Jeeebus]

The law of supply and demand does not apply in the way you'd think for lawyers -- it's an inverse relationship. I town with one lawyer will have a poor lawyer, but the moment a second lawyer moves to town both will do OK. The more lawyers there are the more lawsuits there will be.

The only thing lawyers like more than lawyers is insurance salesman -- they provide the pool of money they can go after and insurance salesmen provide the financial protection from, wait for it, ........ lawyers.

Lawyers and insurance salesmen are mutually parasitic.


Brian

umm... no.

In other news, can someone convince my client to send his signed declaration so I can actually file this goddam document tonight? I'm sick as hell from this cold and would like to go to sleep at some point tonight.

 

[Fenixgoon]

This is not true. A large portion of legislators are not lawyers. Here, to save you some googling is a link backing up my statement, saying only 40% of senators were lawyers in 2012 and the rate had been declining:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/first-thing-we-do-lets-elect-all-the-lawyers/


It would probably be better if legislators were all lawyers. Seeing as they are in charge of making laws, it would be nice if they had experience of how laws actually work.

but of those who make up the senate, lawyers are by far the single largest occupation

not too many engineers on there

 

[uclaLabrat]

I practice patent law. Patent lawyers are expensive because we are required to have to be three professions in one, i.e., a scientist, a lawyer, and a technical writer. In many cases a masters or a PhD in a science is required to pass go (i.e., you won't get a job without one). Definitely not a glut of patent lawyers around. At least not patent lawyers with any amount of experience.

As to your more general point, there are low cost law firms around. But just as with anything else, you get what you pay for.

I seriously considered going the patent law route, but I don't think I could have hacked it

 

[Dirigible]

but of those who make up the senate, lawyers are by far the single largest occupation

not too many engineers on there

Of course. Lawyers are superior people. :sneaky:

 

[who?]

Are there many lawyers like the one Bill Murray played in "Wild Things"?

 

[pcgeek11]

As a lawyer, these are my favorite threads.

Just go do the work yourself if you don't think the lawyer is worth what he's asking.

The lawyer doesn't do the work either. Their legal aids do all the work for peanuts and the lawyer just gets to rape the victim.

My wife at one time worked for a lawyer.

 

[alkemyst]

The lawyer doesn't do the work either. Their legal aids do all the work for peanuts and the lawyer just gets to rape the victim.

My wife at one time worked for a lawyer.

lol, yeah management just sits around doing nothing.

 

[alkemyst]

The law of supply and demand does not apply in the way you'd think for lawyers -- it's an inverse relationship. I town with one lawyer will have a poor lawyer, but the moment a second lawyer moves to town both will do OK. The more lawyers there are the more lawsuits there will be.

The only thing lawyers like more than lawyers is insurance salesman -- they provide the pool of money they can go after and insurance salesmen provide the financial protection from, wait for it, ........ lawyers.

Lawyers and insurance salesmen are mutually parasitic.


Brian

dafuq?

 

[mikeford]

Old joke about the town with one lawyer that was poor, then another lawyer moved in and they are both doing well.

Lawyers make their own work, the more there are, the more work they have to do, and the higher the rate the best can demand.

Lawyers may be expensive, but having the second best lawyer in a conflict is more expensive.

 

[pcgeek11]

lol, yeah management just sits around doing nothing.

lol, I'm glad you see it my way.

 

[cabri]

umm... no.

In other news, can someone convince my client to send his signed declaration so I can actually file this goddam document tonight? I'm sick as hell from this cold and would like to go to sleep at some point tonight.

You need to hire a part time kneecapper/enforcer.

Or get one as a pro-bono type client.

 

[highland145]

You need to hire a part time kneecapper/enforcer.

Or get one as a pro-bono type client.

erks up;

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Have you seen prices you can charge to prepare and prosecute a patent go up in the past few years? If anything, what I've seen is prices being clamped down, and declining when inflation is taken into account.

Yeah prices definitely have not been going up. We do most stuff on a fixed fee basis. Sometimes we win. Sometimes the client wins. Client has a fixed cost that it can budget for. Everyone is generally happy.

 

[JEDI]

Errmmm - most people that do wills or other simple corporate formation documents generally charge a flat fee for the task. I've seen $500 flat fee for wills, $1000 flat fee for setting up a new LLC (including filing fees of roughly $200) - most of that "simple" stuff is not billed by the hour as it is. For me, I generally only charge hourly as most of my cases are complex business litigation cases that could last a month or several years, require motions, legal research, depositions, trial, etc. Very difficult to agree on a reasonable flat fee in those circumstances.

how much should it cost to set up a trust?

 

[squarecut1]

for doctors, the AMA artificially keeps enrollment low thus nets high prices for them because of supply + demand.

Otherwise, we are a nation of such brilliant, bright people that 50 percent of us would be doctors. Never mind the fact that most of us can't even locate America on the world map.

 

[alkemyst]

how much should it cost to set up a trust?

One would probably need to know what type of trust and how many will be a part of it.

Around here a basic trust starts around $2k, flat fee and can go to several thousands of dollars depending on what is needed.

Of course, that $2k+ is usually not an issue with the kind of money many are protecting out this way.

 

[xaeniac]

they gotta pay for that Benz.