Re: "Let's kill all the lawyers..."

Tim May and Phil Karn's comments remind me of my friend Mark the Lawyer who lives in SF. I visit him on occasion when I'm in the Bay Area and notice that he has the proper perspective on things. When I was there a week ago he had a copy of the Nolo Press newspaper (including a hefty selection of their vast catalogue of lawyer jokes). And his refrigerator magnet reads: "Lawyer: person retained to protect client from others of profession." We need lawyers, but do we need *so many*?! I was born and grew up in Washington, DC. The DC Bar has over *50,000* lawyers! Even in our nation's capital that seems excessive.