Carl Mumpower

Crony capitalists are some of our society’s most visible robber barons. They survive, however, with the aid of another merry band of predators – the legal profession.

With one lawyer for every 265 citizens, America has the largest concentration of legal professionals in the world.  Annually, we are expanding that pool with 40,000 graduates, which equates to a 50 percent increase every 10years.   These new legal eagles do not remain idle – they look for prey.

Their cause is aided by a political system that allows the fox to guard the henhouse.  A disproportionate percentage of our elected officials are attorneys proficient in protecting their own.  Those protections include licensure laws that limit competition and accountability, excess legislation assuring legal entanglements, and avoidance of legal system reforms. 

Attorneys enjoy the same professional monopoly as physicians. Both groups have successfully resisted rivals and enterprise that might harm their bottom line, though attorneys have done the better job of rigging the system.  It is significant that the number of attorneys in America far exceeds the number of physicians.  That statistic, and the lucrative nature of medical malpractice suits, is a big reason our healthcare system is increasingly devoted to defensive medicine over affordable, efficient, and accessible service.

We support attorney politicians in making the laws, but sometimes forget their peers are then in charge of interpreting, implementing, and enforcing those laws.  America has more people in jail than any other country in the world – about 2.5 million.  Any system that conjointly has the world’s highest percentage of attorneys and jailed citizenry might be past due for a little introspection.

Ninety-five percent of most court cases are characterized by extensive delays and eventual settlement by plea bargain.  Selective adjudication and built-in inefficiencies combine with a lack of alternative sentencing resources to perpetuate a system more effective at training and retaining than intercepting and rehabilitating criminals.  The only clear winners in our murky judicial system are the attorneys, as politicians, judges, and practitioners, who manufacture, manipulate, and milk the dysfunction.

Not all attorneys wear black hats.  Few, however, have the courage and character to ponder, much less challenge, the systemic harms of their fraternity.

Our increase in illegal immigration, fraud, drug-trafficking, and corruption over the past two decades reveals a culture losing ground on the rule of law. It is not coincidental that as the number of attorneys has grown the legal system has weakened.

With fees of $200-plus an hour, it is easy to see why they are quietly doing their part to insure the wheels of justice turn slowly – or not at all.
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Carl Mumpower, a former member of Asheville City Council and GOP candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it