ABSTRACT
Why do certain countries have more lawyers than others?What is the role of legal edu-
cation in the supply of lawyers? How does state regulation affect entry into the pro-
fession as well as professional ideology and structure? What is the relationship
between the number of lawyers and access to justice? As reflected in the articles
that follow, the workshop stimulated a lively discussion of the reasons for the pro-
fession’s popularity among students, and the consequences for the profession as
well as the public of a perceived ‘flooding of the profession’. Interestingly, the discus-
sion led to an understanding that the answer to the question of whether there are too
many lawyers depends as much on preliminary questions of who is considered a
lawyer, who is eligible to serve as a lawyer in particular contexts and who is eligible
to provide legal services, as it does on the larger consideration of who is asking the
question and the geographical, economic and political contexts of the debate.
