I'm sorry Kevin but I beg to differ - many abstractors are paralegals that have degrees - maybe not 8 years - and not all attorneys spent 8 years - I know attorneys that did law school in 2.  But many have 4 year degrees and master degrees on top of it.  Anyone that does anything unethically deserves to be booted out of any field.  Rarely would anyone be disbarred if ethical violations were not an issue such as trust account violations.  And these abstractors with 6 years of college, related to real estate degrees could be booted from the real estate market.  I guess you would just have to make sure your 4 year degree could carry you into another field.  Just like a judge told me one day - I know an attorney who went to jail for drugs, he pumped gas until he got his law license back and now he is the best attorney in the world.  He knew his mistake, took accountability for it and moved on.  So you see, not always is everything lost - only when "moral" and "unethical" acts are done.  I only think there is a problem when attorneys have a problem with accepting accountability - for some it is hard.