I think s/he means lawyers are expensive everywhere in the US. I never heard of someone going bankrupt in Europe for defending themselves so I researched it. In Germany there are fixed prices that lawyers can charge.
The chart for legal salaries has two big lobes: a small sharp one at the very high end and a huge one at the low end. The last time I looked a brand new JD from an unexceptional law school was looking at a starting salary of somewhere in the mid $40k range. So as professionals go, lawyers aren't that expensive (assuming you're not hiring from Harvard).
But running a law office is expensive. You're going to have idle "legal capacity" which has has to be paid for by the clients you do get.
Less of a supply/demand microeconomic reason, more of a willingness-to-pay rationale (i.e. if you are at risk of going to jail, you'll pay ANYTHING to avoid it, and lawyers charge accordingly).
It's kind of paradoxical that people would rather accept unfavorable pleas because they don't want to/can't pay anything.. and the lawyers are still expensive..
