Why do lawyers earn such high salaries?

From the WSJ$: "That lawyers are among the most miserable of men -- and women -- is well-known. Some 19% of lawyers suffer depression at any given time, compared with 6.7% of the population as a whole, says the University of Arizona's Connie Beck, a leading researcher on the subject; one in five lawyers is a problem drinker, twice the national rate. Escalating billable-hours quotas fuel chronic overload, and the ceaseless deadlines and adversarial nature of the work feed anxiety."

Lawyers' salaries have to be high to induce smart people who have lots of job opportunities to endure the unpleasantness of being a lawyer. In essence, many lawyers are rich because their jobs are miserable.