It is actually good to have germs in small amounts.  They help inoculate us from bigger sicknesses.  But having too many germs is actually bad for us.

That philosophy applies equally well to lawyers.  Some lawyers are useful, even necessary, such as lawyers who draft wills or contracts between companies or stock offerings (my former profession), federal prosecutors, and those who represent plaintiffs and defendants in legitimate civil lawsuits.

But a lot of lawyers do things that are not so good.  In my opinion, the government has too many lawyers.  The lawyers at the EPA and the so-called "civil rights" division of the Justice Department harass law-abiding citizens all too often.  Many lawyers at non-profits  do more harm than good, suing to demand the "right" to other taxpayers' money or suing to prevent development on private property on the flimsiest of environmental grounds.  Many lawyers sue companies for phony civil rights violations to shake them down for money, like the obviously bogus charges filed against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins by the adulteress Ellen Pao, who claimed discrimination even though she received $500,000 a year and special treatment from the top boss.

That's why it's with great pleasure that I report that applications to law school are down 50% from 2004 highs, and employment of lawyers has taken a bit hit as well:

Nearly 46,000 people have applied so far to go to an accredited U.S. law school in the most recent admissions cycle, a figure that puts applications on track to hit just short of 53,000 total. By comparison, there were a total of 77,000 applicants in 2010 and 90,000 in 2004, according to the Law School Admission Council. Even top-ranked Harvard Law School witnessed a drop in applications

Good!

Poor enrollment is hurting the bottom line at some schools. Washington and Lee’s School of Law said it plans to cut 12 positions, while Western Michigan University’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School delivered pink slips to more than half of its faculty and staff members last summer.

Very good!

Last month, Wiley Rein, one of the Washington area’s biggest law firms, cut 48 attorneys and staff members, an estimated 9 percent of its overall workforce. Nine months after graduation, a little more than half of the class of 2013 had found full-time jobs as lawyers, down from 77 percent of 2007

Excellent!

Instead of going to law school, let all these people work at jobs, or better yet, start their own businesses.  Do something productive to help the economy, instead of jobs mentioned in the article like this:

Courtney Robinson did several internships, including one as a legal fellow for the Congressional Black Caucus... She eventually landed a position as a legal analyst at Freddie Mac... [Another student] has a legal fellowship with Rights4Girls, a human rights organization.

Getting a real job is a lot better for society than working for a racial exclusionary group, an organization that caused the housing crisis, or a non-profit that cares nothing about half the population.

This article was produced by NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.