Now, let the economic geniuses who hate lawyers explain that we have an oversupply, yet they are overpriced.
Perhaps you have heard the tale of the town that only had one lawyer. He never made any money until another lawyer moved into town.
You're not paying $1000 an hour for the attorney, you're paying $1000 an hour for the justice system.
Not every attorney can bill @ $1000/hr - just a select few.
The perception of the buyer is that the $1000 attorney can deliver the "justice" system to them on a silver platter - and the perception is not far from the truth...
How much would Michael Vick pay an attorney an hour if said attorney could get him back to where he was with a few dings and scratches to the ol' reputation? Hmmmmmmmm?
Are lawyers a market or a monopoly? Can you hire someone to represent you in court who is not a lawyer? Monopolies can charge what they want and aren't subject to market pressure.
Because a lawyer is the larval form of a politician. When they get into office, they keep tweaking the legal system so that in increasing number of our interfaces with government require lawyers to shepherd us through the process. For example, it used to be routine to go through naturalization by yourself. Now everyone needs a lawyer - or bypasses the process by being an illegal.