[antiterra]

And yet there are more and more law schools gleefully suckering new students into the major and getting rich off of it, while not being able to provide a return on the investment. That's a very bad thing.

Lawyers as a whole are not a symbol of malaise. It really depends on what kind of lawyers are around. You increase regulation in an industry, then companies in that industry are going to need to hire lawyers to advise the companies on how to comply. You're also going to need people familiar enough with the law to write good regulatory legislation.

You want startups to make deals with each other, and to receive investments? You're going to want lawyers who can sort out the terms and put it in writing that reflects the intent of all stakeholders. So much misery and broken friendship between co-founders could have been easily relieved by using contracts instead of handshakes.

If you're investing in a company, it's likely you'll want a lawyer to perform due diligence on the company's current contractual obligations.