The answer to the first question is yes. I’d like my court cases to be decided by someone with legal training just like I’d like my surgery to be done by someone with training.

> You'd rather be ruled by a credentialed class that could have opinions completely divorced from reality?

There's a great New Yorker cartoon about this. https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a20630

If the law was human and obvious we wouldn't need lawyers in the first place. The system as it is is already complex enough that someone without a law degree would have great difficulty navigating it. Having uncredentialed judges won't make the laws simpler they'll just make an already dysfunctional system even worst.

There is no inherent need for lawyers; that one is required to navigate a legal system reflects poorly on it.