Some need to moonlight as rappers, apparently:
A reader writes:
About the decline of "law" as an industry: I'd guess that the advent of computer technologies hit law offices harder than most. In college I worked at a law firm that handled paper-intensive asbestos litigation. The firm of 60 attorneys employed over 150 paralegals and file clerks, most of whom simply handled the daily deluge of paperwork. Now it's all digitized and they employ a quarter of the support personnel they used to. That says nothing of the weekly transatlantic flights 10-15 people had to make in order to meet with the Lloyds folks before videoconferencing. I'm not surprised they're not throwing around the same amount of money as before.
I agree with everything Campos says about the industry and am SO thankful I didn't take the job they offered me after college or go to law school. Still, I wonder how strictly Campos defines "Legal Services?" Does it include only people who pass the bar and/or work at law firms? I'd bet if he included all those legislators, lobbyists, and executives who hold a JD but don't practice, we'd get a number a bit higher than 1.3% – and certainly that particular triad influences a lot of money.
Another reader reinforces the first point:
As a lawyer, my job is to get ideas articulated and exchanged as quickly as possible. I started work as a law student in 1960. With fax and copy machines, then computer and Internet, including e-mail, I can accomplish in hours what may have taken weeks. Of course it represents a lesser proportion of GDP.
Update from a reader:
Regardless of whether we've hit peak lawyer, there is at least one lawyer who has a legitimate rap career. David Kelly, an associate in the corporate department at a big Chicago law firm, is also the artist known as Capital D. Here's a CBS news profile on Cap D. Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot describes him as "criminally" under-rated on the national scene and declared Cap D's album PolyMath the best local indie record of 2010.
The Dish 