評論
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All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any other profession — with the possible exception of journalism.
整個世界范圍內，律師比起其他任何職業的人員引起更多的敵意--可能除了新聞業人員。
But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.
但是很少有地方可以像美國這樣有更多的理由抱怨律師這個行業。
During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation.
在經濟危機以前的十年間，美國在法律服務業的支出增長了兩倍，如同和通貨膨脹一樣快。
The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into law schools.
最好的律師賺了很多錢，誘使更多的學生擠進法學院。
But most law graduates never get a big-firm job.
但是大多數的法律畢業生從來沒有獲得過大的律師事務所的工作。
Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.
他們當中的許多人反而成為了那種妨礙民事訴訟的文件編檔員，他們使得在侵權索賠制度上的花費如噩夢。
There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education.
法律服務業的支出增長還有許多原因。其中一個就是法律教育的過度支出。
There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states:
在美國大多數州成為律師僅僅一條途徑：
a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject,
用四年時間獲得一些與法律不相關學科的學士學位，
then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam.
然后在美國律師協會授權的200所法學院之一攻讀三年以獲得法律學位，而且為律師資格考試準備高昂的費用。
This leaves today's average law-school graduate with $100, 000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts.
這讓如今的法學院畢業生承擔平均10萬美元的債務，居本科生債務之首。
Law-school debt means that they have to work fearsomely hard.
法學院學生的債務意味著他們不得不極大地努力工作。
Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers.
體制改革對律師和客戶都有利。
Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement them.
明智的想法已經存在了很長時間，但是管理此專業的州級機構一直以來太過保守而沒能實施這些想法。
One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree.
其中一個想法就是允許人們在本科時學習法律獲得法律學位。
Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school.
另外一個就是讓學生在法學院學習兩年之后就參加律師資格考試。
If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so.
如果律師資格考試真的是對一個準律師足夠嚴格的測試，應該允許那些有能力的考生提前參考。
Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.
那些不需要額外的訓練的學生就可以削減他們三分之一的債務。
The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business.
高昂支出的另一個原因是限制性的、類似于行會的，企業的所有權結構。
Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm.
除了哥倫比亞特區，非律師可能不能擁有法律事務所的任何股份。
This keeps fees high and innovation slow.
這個使得費用高而且革新慢。
There is pressure for change from within the profession,
在行業的內部做改變有壓力，
but opponents of change among the regulators insist that
但是管理此行業中的反對者堅持認為
keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.
讓局外人不持股份的做法使得律師遠離賺錢的壓力，而不是讓其在道德上去服務客戶。
In fact, allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers,
事實上，允許非律師持有法律事務所的股份會減少開支，并且提高對客戶的服務質量，
by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms' efficiency.
為了提高事務所的效率，他們鼓勵法律事務所使用技術手段，并且聘請專業的經理。
After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legal professions. America should follow.
畢竟其它一些國家，如澳大利亞和英國已經開始使他們的法律職業自由化。美國應該采取這樣的做法。
