Why are so many elected officials lawyers?

[GayCanuck]

Very similar in Canada and I know it is in the US. I would love to see more of a cross section of professions in our Parliament.

[liberal N proud]

1. It all has to do with slime

[Submariner]

2. Because they think they are so cunning

and smart that they can game the system for their own personal gain by knowing the loopholes to duck the law. What I wonder is why they go to law school at all! When I was in college I was naive to think that they went into the field due to a "love or respect for the law." All I ever see are lawyers doing everything to find a way to get around the law. A very dishonorable profession overall imho.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

8. And how fun it will be

when you need one!

Like all professions there are those who are good and those who are bad. If you want to lump us all together, I suppose that's your prerogative, but I expect there are a lot of folks who have been helped by attorneys, often for free or at very little cost, who would disagree with you.

[AspenRose]

19. Everyone hates lawyers....until they need one

**DR, former family law paralegal**

There ARE good, honorable lawyers out there. Put the broad brush away, please....

[Danmel]

3. Probably a few factors

one would obviously be the law making and enforcing nature of government, another would probably be that the interests of people who become lawyers. Most lawyers study political science and government and tend to be people who are interested in the issues that draw people to government work.

[SteppingRazor]

4. Easy -- lawyers know the law.

Congresspeople make the law.
So, lawyers are uniquely qualified.

[OneBlueSky]

6. lawyers not only know the law . . . they write it . . .

of course, these days more and more legislation is written by corporate lawyers rather than by those in Congress . . . but that's another story . . .

[acmejack]

5. Money?

My Sister commands a huge salary, more in a month than I made as a senior IT professional (in the good days).

Money and contacts, lawyers have both. They know everyone who is anyone. Gives them entre' into the political club.

[Maple]

7. Presumably because

if they're going to make laws, it helps to have a law background.

The Canadian Parliament also has farmers and doctors, auto workers and computer people and so on though.

[Angry Girl]

9. "white is black and black is white" quote by Swift

There was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black and black is white, according as they are paid.
Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels

http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/quotes/gulliver.html

[TwilightZone]

10. They're wealthy enough to run?

Political races take huge amounts of cash and time, so perhaps those in the legal profession have made enough money to afford to take the time off to run for office.

[SheilaT]

11. And also they can easily get

a leave of absence from their job to serve in office. A lot of jobs aren't that way.

[catnhatnh]

12. Read Tennyson's "Northern Farmer-Old Style"...

..."Marry ye not for money-But go ye where the money is"...

[indepat]

13. They know how to read the law and better use or abuse it to their purposes

[MrSlayer]

14. Because to be a big scumbag you have to first be a little scumbag.

It's unfortunate but true in most cases.

[genius]

15. Because lawyers know more about law than most other people.

[lindisfarne]

16. Because it's not too difficult to make it through law school - the easiest

"advanced" degree to get (well, an MBA is probably even easier).

[Scoots]

20. Say what????

What law school did you go to -- the Lionel Hutz School of Law and HVAC Repair?

I'm sorry to be so confrontational, but that is a load of crap.

I saw straight-A students from high quality undergrad programs burn out in week two. As for me, my first graduate degree was cake next to law school.

A lot of lawyers are scumbags -- it's true. One of the reasons is that the cost of law school is so high that it eliminates a lot of potential students who can't afford it outright and refuse to go into that much debt. As for me, I know I'd probably be a much different person if my mom and dad could afford to drop 100k for my law degree.

If you'd like to join me in trying to break the "scummy lawyer" stereotype I'll be happy to send you an application for my "easy degree" program.

[lindisfarne]

22. It really is not difficult to make it through law school, especially

compared to other advanced degree programs such as Ph.D., MD, Pharmacy.

The original comment wasn't a comment about scummy lawyers - it was a comment that getting through 3 years of law school isn't all that tough (our undergraduate system overall is pathetically easy to graduate from with high grades (grade inflation is rampant), so perhaps law school seems difficult, relative to that).

That doesn't mean you don't have to work, esp. at the better law schools, but the work comparatively is not terribly difficult. Just think about all the lawyers out there - what percent are truly bright? (What percent would have made it through an MD or Ph.D. program?) I know some bright lawyers, but they are the exception. Several friends who went to U of MN (which is a highly ranked law school), U of WA, and UC-Davis law schools said easily, 50% of their classmates were essentially incompetent and they would never hire them.

Passing the bar is trickier in some states, but if you don't pass, you just keep taking it.

[Scoots]

25. They said.....?

It really depends who you talk to, doesn't it?

I have a friend:

--Who is a Marine (now a law student) and says boot camp was cake compared to a single semester of law school.

--Who has a PhD in Philosophy who thinks he'd have a tough time in law school.

--Who has a PhD in Microbiology (6-7 year program) who says med school is all memorization, and nowhere near as intense as law school.

--Who is a PhD Candidate in Biology (and can recite 11-syllable chemical names like they were nothing) who took one look at my stack of textbooks and commented on how easy her workload was in comparison.

SO WHAT??

Comparing ANY advanced degrees is like apples and oranges. Each requires different skills (e.g. lawyers rarely do math except when calculating their bill). Before accepting SOMEONE ELSE’S ASSESSMENT we have to take into account our different strengths and weaknesses. Because of my problems with math, microbiology would be impossible. I actually considered another degree in philosophy, but decided I don’t want to teach. I also doubt I could last a day in the Marine Corps (I’m a bookworm who doesn’t exercise unless I have too). Yet, despite my aptitude for traditional “lawyer skills,” law school is extremely tough.

I would never argue that med school is easy. However, if you assume law school is easier simply because it is only three years you should realize that the very fact that we cram so much information into those years is evidence of the INTENSITY of the program. You also may be surprised to know that despite the common misconception, we do a lot more than simply sit around memorizing case names and Latin phrases. Instead, law school teaches you to look underneath the words, and in effect completely changes the way you look at language. Law school is made even more difficult by things like Socratic Method classes, where you are singled out by the professor in front of the class (of sometimes 100+ students). Ask any first year class how many of them broke down after being interrogated for a half hour about the Erie Doctrine or subject matter jurisdiction.

And like comparing apples and oranges, it helps to have tasted them yourself before judging. I have a BA and an MPA (different from an MBA) which were a cakewalk compared to law school. If you’ve completed an advanced degree in something (other than some online diploma mill course) then we can respectfully disagree about the relative difficulty of our programs. If you haven’t completed at least one advanced degree yourself then I suggest you withhold judgment.

Again, I would never argue that med school (or any other grad program) is easy. It very well may be harder than law school. I simply take exception to your casual discounting of the difficulty and intensity of law school.

P.S. Of course any contract can be broken. For example, you can break your rental contract by moving out ahead of time or not paying your rent. That doesn’t mean you’re not liable for damages, it just means you broke your contract!

[lindisfarne]

26. We'll have to agree to disagree on how difficult law school is.

[Yupster]

27. Reagardless of all that

I have the advanced degree that required the least work or brains.

My wife and I each have ......

Drum rolls please.............

MA's in Curriculum and Instruction.

Sorry to make a joke of it, but that's what it was. No effort, little work, little grading, and only spent half the time in the classroom that was supposedly required.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

34. WHAT???

Sorry, but there's nothing easy about law school -- those were the most grueling, exhausting years of my life.

(BTW, I'm neither sleazy nor rich. In fact, I quit practicing law because I was going broke.)

[Quakerfriend]

17. Many lawyers pride themselves on being able to out talk

others. This makes for an easy time of it in politics, ie, a natural segway for them.

[Robertwf]

18. See Shakespeare: It's a Death Wish

[Pepperbelly]

21. because they won the elections? nt

[Justice]

23. Because the exceptions lead to presidents like *

seriously, leave us lawyers alone.

[dR. O]

24. bc

most politicians are scum and most lawyers are scum

[wiley]

28. Who better knows a community's secrets than a lawyer

It's an ugly game of favors and targeted pro bono cases and knowing a lot of neighbors and colleagues personal and business issues well enough to ask for support in their quest for power.

[jayctravis]

29. Well...lawyers study Law...so I'd imagine they know the most

about it.

[ladylibertee]

30. The Law is what governs the country ????

[laugle]

31. My husband and I were just discussing the

same thing. We came to the conclusion that our congress needs to have people who are more representative of their constituents. I totally agree with you.

How else is it that they don't seem to relate to the common person.

I will never forget Joe Kennedy Jr. on Larry King--was asked what he thought the average income was, his answer was; "about $100,000." The average income at that time was around 40,000. What a shock to hear someone in the congress sooo clueless.

We have wayyyyy to many fat cats in congress. I think Clinton understood people because he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Of course he is a lawyer. Oh well....but he was not entrenched in the Washington establishment but govenor of a poor state.

[IntravenousDemilo]

32. Lawyers (barristers, anyway) are also better-than-average public speakers.

A lot of politics is speechifyin' (on the campaign trail, in the House, whatever), and speechifyin' is what lawyers do best.

[win_in_06]

33. Logical that lawmakers would be lawyers

but I think the Founders intended for the House to be "commoners" as opposed to the Senate which would be composed of more of the elite type.

[Justice]

35. Call lawyers scum, but if some other group is referred to in less than

glowing terms, some DUers get wound up in a tizzy.