Doctors are really the last strong professional association, though.
Lawyers have a cabal, but it's pretty weak. There's no cap on new lawyers or people attending law school. If you are dumb and/or have bad grades you can always attend a 4th tier law school. In contrast, there aren't 4th tier med schools. Someone who gets their MD at University of North Dakota is still going to be making $150K, worst case scenario. Lawyers on the other hand have lower average wages than one might think. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos053.htm#earnings It's just that a handful of certain lawyers, like trial lawyers, can make infinite money so others assume all types of lawyers are rich.
> Lawyers have a cabal, but it's pretty weak... you can always attend a 4th tier law school.
Getting a school accredited by the A.B.A. is expensive [1], and if the schools necessarily cost a lot of money to run then the students largely come out with big debts to pay off. The article says essentially that the U.S. is oversupplied with "expensive" lawyers and has a strong unmet demand for "reasonably priced" legal services.
Moreover, there are a lot of people talking about how law graduates in the US are underprepared for their work - there's a recognition that some traditional curricula don't provide enough practical know-how to function in the real-world without serious on-the-job training. Law is essentially a vocational degree, and there is evidence that the standards governing the accreditation of law schools (and so lawyers) aren't aligned with the needs of the country.
I'll grant that the gatekeepers of the medical profession may have a stronger hold on things, but there are decent arguments for liberalisation of the legal market.
Lawyers have a cabal, but it's pretty weak. There's no cap on new lawyers or people attending law school. If you are dumb and/or have bad grades you can always attend a 4th tier law school. In contrast, there aren't 4th tier med schools. Someone who gets their MD at University of North Dakota is still going to be making $150K, worst case scenario. Lawyers on the other hand have lower average wages than one might think. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos053.htm#earnings It's just that a handful of certain lawyers, like trial lawyers, can make infinite money so others assume all types of lawyers are rich.