The World Economic Forum reported in 2002 that for all the 75 countries it had just studied there was a statistically significant relationship between gross domestic product (‘the best single, summary measure of current competitiveness available across all countries’) and each of eight measures of legal infrastructure, as pointed out in Constance E. Bagley, Winning Legally: How to Use the Law to Create Value, Marshall Resources, and Manage Risks (Harv. Bus. School Press 2005) at 45-46.
The legal pillars include judicial independence, adequate legal recourse, demanding product standards, stringent environmental regulations, sufficient IP protection, and effective antitrust laws. These legal mainstays depend, in turn, on the quality of the bar, both inside and outside (See my post of May 31, 2005 that attacks a surfeit lawyers for reducing GDP.)