On the Effects of Occupational Licensing on the Legal Profession
Are state bar licensing requirements just a barrier to entry that reduces the quantity and increases the cost of legal services? Do they also improve the quality of legal services and protect consumers?
Count me among those who is generally skeptical of state occupational licensing requirements. So I read with interest a new study bt Adam CHilton, Jacob GOldin, Kyle Rozema, and Sarath Sanga, “Occupational Licensing and Labor Market Mobility: Evidence from the Legal Profession.” Here is the abstract:
We study how state occupational licensing requirements shape labor mobility across U.S. legal markets. Drawing on newly collected data, we link variation in state bar exam waiver policies to lawyers’ license acquisitions, professional disciplinary records, and educational histories. We find that bar exam waivers increase the number of experienced lawyers obtaining a new license by 38 percent, but that the additional lawyers are subject to more professional discipline and tend to have graduated from less selective law schools. Our results suggest
Article from Reason.com
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