According to Posner during 1996 there was about 15 times more American judges than English judges but only about 10 times more American lawyers than English lawyers. Posner suggests that English judges have more prestige than American judges and a related point is that the ratio of judges to lawyers is lower in England than the United States. The consequence of this is that the English common law system, as opposed to the American legal system, displays a legal culture of greater prestige and elitism not only in the judiciary but also those who are candidates for the judiciary.