Lawyer jokes/example

I've watched Philadelphia (1993, *ing Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Antonio Bandares), my all-time favourite movie, a couple of times and have read its script too. But there's this riddle in the movie I didn't quite catch.

At the climax, Andrew Becket (Tom Hanks) poses this riddle to Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), his lawyer who's paying a visit to the hospital to congratulate Andy for his legal victory. Andy asks, "So, what do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?" When Joe gives up, Andy divulges, "A good start!"

I just didn't get it. Would someone explain this to me; like I were a six old :-)?

It's quite straightforward! Andy would like to get rid of all lawyers. Drowning 1000 is a good start. You can of course adapt this question using the profession of your choice.

Lawyer jokes are kind of a "tradition." Go to www.google.com/ and type in "lawyer jokes" to access a bunch.

It was so cold today that all the lawyers in town had their hands in their own pockets! Cheers!

They used the lawyers in the ocean joke in another movie:

What do you call 500 lawyers lying on the bottom of the ocean?
A good start...
-- (The War of the Roses, 1989)