How many lawyers does it take?

The possibility there are too many lawyers sounds like the beginning of a joke.

But this is no punch line: There are around 100,000 licensed attorneys in Florida, one for every 200 people statewide. And there are more than 1.2 million lawyers in the United States, good for one for every 257 Americans.

To some, like a majority of respondents in two separate surveys, that's an excessive amount of legal advice. One survey, released by Rasmussen Reports earlier this year, found that 56% of Americans think there are too many attorneys, compared to 9% who believe there aren't enough. In another survey, Florida lawyers say oversaturation of attorneys tops the list of issues that will have the greatest impact on the legal profession.