True. Due to rules created by lawyers, you must higher a lawyer each time property changes hands to do a title search. The fact that some lawyer did such a search the last time the property changed hands is not relevant, it must be done again. Further, again due to laws written by lawyers, if their title search fails to reveal any claim on the property, but such a claim is later put forward anyway, the lawyers who did the search bear no responsibility or consequences. But you still have to pay for the search.
stop your neighbor from infrining on your rights,
Potentially true, and occasionally useful. More frequently, disputes among neighbors do not rise to the level of requiring a lawyer. Those that do go to court can often be resolved with each side representing themselves. However, lawyers will try to inject themselves, very aggressively trying to drum up business, usually by making each party feel more aggrieved, and trying to raise the potential consequences. Hey, they're businessmen after all, you gotta make money somehow - and if making the situation worse is how you make money - well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
open your own business,
I can practically repeat the bit about buying property here. There are many licensing boards, generally created by lawyers, for people to jump through. The ensure the system is sufficiently complicated that you need a lawyer to guide you through. They usually require some one to make a judgement call - which they will only make if you have a lawyer representing you, otherwise it just drags on with no decision either way. It is rare anymore for there to simply be standards - if you meet the following qualifications, you get your license - always require a hearing, it's employment for lawyers.
create a trust/will etc.
A few years back, people were able to put this rather simple, repetitive work into software form, allowing anyone to do it by themselves. Lawyers couldn't have that, and began a campaign to make this illegal - since the software was giving "legal advice." They succeeded, at least in causing enough fear of lawsuits, so that this software is now rarely available. Good job.
you will need a lawyer.
Look, I don't want to claim lawyers are completely useless. But they, as a group, have been trying to make sure they're needed for everything. We're greatly oversupplied in lawyers, and they - along with the many lawyers in Congree - try to make our lives ever more adversarial, so that these lawyers have something to do. You listed almost all the examples where they really aren't needed, but force themselves in. Some disputes with neighbors do rise high enough to require lawyers, but that's the only example you gave that's partially legitimate.
Drew Garrett