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larly benefit from the efficiency that comes with open

competition.

The repeal of UPL prohibitions would significantly

lower the barrier to entry into the legal services market.

Instead of mandating a prescribed investment in human capi-

tal before an individual is permitted to practice law, we

should allow the powerful discovery process of the free

market to function.  Entrepreneurs would then search for the

most efficient ways of training people for the wide variety

of work done by legal practitioners.  That would mean put-

ting the now-obligatory three years of law school to the

test of the market.  As Judge Richard A. Posner has pointed

out, law schools now have a "captive audience, insulating

them from a true market test of the value of the services

they provide."97

In a free legal marketplace, an array of law prepara-

tion institutions would compete to satisfy the educational

needs of aspiring practitioners.  Optimally efficient meth-

ods of legal training would evolve, as rival institutions

sought to give students the best educational value for their

particular needs.  For some, the traditional law school

education might be ideal; others might conclude that the

costs of a third year outweighed the benefits.  For still

others, one year of study might be sufficient.  Legal train-

ing institutions quite different from today's law schools

might develop, dispensing with current ABA mandates such as

faculty tenure and maximum teaching load.  Probably first to

go: the ABA requirement that law schools be nonprofit.98

Market competition will drive down the cost of produc-

ing a criminal defense attorney, divorce lawyer, or tax

specialist, just as it has reduced the cost of producing

compact discs.  More services will be available to people at

lower cost, and resources now unnecessarily devoted to legal

training will be released for more productive employment

elsewhere.  That dynamic free markets consistently produce

more output at less cost is compelling evidence that the

ABA's preferred 70-year-old model for the production of

lawyers is obsolete.

Certification

To reduce their search costs and minimize the chances

of contracting improvidently, consumers need guidance in

locating service providers with demonstrated competence.  A

market device that offers such guidance is certification--a