The Market for Lawyers: The Determinants of the Demand for and Supply ofLawyers

Some additional evidence on the comparative effect of income, regulation, and other variables on the demand for lawyers is called for. One objective of this paper is to investigate the speed of adjustment of law schools to shifts in the demand for lawyers. Section I presents a theoretical model of the demand for and supply of lawyers. The empirical counterparts of the variables are introduced in Section II. Section III presents the results of the estimation and Section IV compares the actual number of lawyers with the number that would have existed if lawyers earned a normal return on their investment in legal education. Section V presents other evidence of an excess demand for lawyers and offers several explanations for the speed of adjustment of enrollments in law schools to shifts in the demand for lawyers. The paper ends with a summary of the major findings of the paper.