I should have dealt with the "frivolous" item, too. According to the Chief Justice, less than 1/1000 cases even raise the frivolous question and of those even fewer are in fact frivolous. You really have to realize in the last 20 years the companies sued - and the people suing - have used PR to game the system. But even those cases are VERY few. 70% of civil cases heard in NH are over domestic issues. The rest are mostly landlord/tenant and contract or small claims. So, no, those aren't the reason.

I also think you have it backwards: The reason we have a lot of lawyers is because the work is already there - the courts are SO slow, so underfunded, and so burdened by the ordinary. That in turn leads to perfectly valid, but low-$ cases that might have been left be, showing up in court because the likely cost to the defendant encourages going for it. It also discourages contract cases from going to court because often enough more than half the value will be consumed in legal fees just getting to court.

It's nothing new - read Bleak House, which recounts with only some exaggeration the way the English courts were functioning before the major reforms took effect. It's time for reform in ours.

A guaranteed quick, just, and speedy resolution is essential to undoing all the evils you base your (causally inverted, in my opinion) post on.