Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Legal Costs: Lawyers & American Worker Hourly Wages

Twenty-five percent of my 1961 high school graduating class went on to become lawyers. One half of those attorneys would steal a hot stove. The other half would watch and learn.

Today the WSJ featured an article about some lawyer hourly rates reaching $1000.00 per hour. Attorney fees have been climbing 6-7 percent per year for the past 5 years. Meanwhile the average American workers salary has been stuck at around $17.42 per hour for those past 5 years losing out to inflation.Also during this past 5 years, the price of one 9 mm shell has hovered around 10 cents each.

When access to justice is only available to the wealthy through the wealthy, evolutionary experience predicts a low-cost alternative will evolve.

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