The book's empirical analysis estimates lawyers' earnings premium grew from about 20-25% early in the sample to close to 50%, consistent with tightening entry restrictions plus growing demand, and converts this into deadweight losses in the billions of dollars plus labor-supply distortions and reduced innovation; the premium cannot be cleanly decomposed into rents versus unobserved ability, but the policies driving the growth (liability, regulation, patent policy) lack clear evidence of offsetting social benefits.