AMERICAN LAWYERS HAVE A UNIQUE REGULATORY STRUCture. Every other profession – from cosmetology to medicine – is regulated in the first instance by state or federal legislatures. State legislatures generally set up regulatory agencies for each licensed profession, although the efficacy of these agencies is a subject of some debate. Moreover, as predicted by public choice theory, each regulated profession often dominates its state board. This is partly because each board needs “experts” to help with regulation and those experts naturally come from the profession itself, and partly because each profession lobbies the legislature and the board for as much control as possible.

That said, at least every other American profession must push its policies and regulation through a legislature made up of members who generally practice another profession (ironically, many state legislators are lawyers). As such, state legislatures serve as a check on the other professions. If any profession overreaches or the regulation grows too self-interested, the state legislature can always jump in. The recent history of tightened regulation of the medical profession on the federal and state level is instructive.