Let's Kill All the Lawyers...

First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
--William Shakespeare

For the record, Shakespeare never suggested killing lawyers. The Bard gave that line to a villian in Henry VI. As I understand the play, the criminals know that for their plot to work, they'll have to get rid of lawyers. After all, who else is going to stop them from trampling the Magna Carta and destroying the Rights of Man?

Many argue this is a compliment to lawyers because it acknowledges they are a threat. Thus, this sound bite is not the sort of anti-bourgeois, Marxist sentiment that so many imagine it to be. Lawyers may be capitalists, they may be expensive, perfectionists, critical, abrasive, and control-freaks. But lawyers show up every day, the only one standing between citizens and prison, or between people and poverty. It is still a noble calling and an extremely valuable service.

Who else has the ability to protect you from the tentacles of an over-reaching State?

Consider Pakistan.

What does the dictator do when he wants to increase his power? Musharraf might well have said it himself:

First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

P.S. Props to the unknown pontificator PTB for a heads up on sources. Consider this article for more on the Shakespeare line, all of which is beside the point of this post.