Bonkers Economics

But isn’t there a shortage of solicitors? What about the huge backlog in the courts?

It’s true there's a shortage of crime and immigration lawyers, but that's because all the money is in commercial law, and that’s where the huge growth in numbers has been.

So why have the numbers grown so much? What are they all doing?

Commercial law is about writing or arguing over contracts, and contracts are needed to process transactions. As the UK economy has become more and more about transactions and less about making and doing useful things, the work for commercial lawyers has massively increased.

So we can’t blame the lawyers, then?

Well, they’re just responding to the way the system works. And it’s not just lawyers - the same applies to accountants, management consultants, and many other financial and business services

OK, so it’s just the system. Why should we be concerned?

Because of what the numbers are telling us. This huge growth in commercial lawyers points to an economic system in which the opportunities for wealth accumulation through deals and trading have far outpaced the growth in the actual wealth being produced. And we’re all paying for this. Wouldn’t we be better off if all these lawyers had trained as doctors instead?

But isn’t there a shortage of solicitors? What about the huge backlog in the courts?

It’s true there's a shortage of crime and immigration lawyers, but that's because all the money is in commercial law, and that’s where the huge growth in numbers has been.

So why have the numbers grown so much? What are they all doing?

Commercial law is about writing or arguing over contracts, and contracts are needed to process transactions. As the UK economy has become more and more about transactions and less about making and doing useful things, the work for commercial lawyers has massively increased.

So we can’t blame the lawyers, then?

Well, they’re just responding to the way the system works. And it’s not just lawyers - the same applies to accountants, management consultants, and many other financial and business services

OK, so it’s just the system. Why should we be concerned?

Because of what the numbers are telling us. This huge growth in commercial lawyers points to an economic system in which the opportunities for wealth accumulation through deals and trading have far outpaced the growth in the actual wealth being produced. And we’re all paying for this. Wouldn’t we be better off if all these lawyers had trained as doctors instead?

But isn’t there a shortage of solicitors? What about the huge backlog in the courts?

It’s true there's a shortage of crime and immigration lawyers, but that's because all the money is in commercial law, and that’s where the huge growth in numbers has been.

So why have the numbers grown so much? What are they all doing?

Commercial law is about writing or arguing over contracts, and contracts are needed to process transactions. As the UK economy has become more and more about transactions and less about making and doing useful things, the work for commercial lawyers has massively increased.

So we can’t blame the lawyers, then?

Well, they’re just responding to the way the system works. And it’s not just lawyers - the same applies to accountants, management consultants, and many other financial and business services

OK, so it’s just the system. Why should we be concerned?

Because of what the numbers are telling us. This huge growth in commercial lawyers points to an economic system in which the opportunities for wealth accumulation through deals and trading have far outpaced the growth in the actual wealth being produced. And we’re all paying for this. Wouldn’t we be better off if all these lawyers had trained as doctors instead?