Government

People Now Trust Lawyers More Than Lawmakers

One small step for the profession, one leap back for state legitimacy.

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handshakeA new ranking has been released that ranked the honesty and ethical standards of various professions. Based on the numbers, it may be time to refit the old “what do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of a lake” joke to be about members of the Senate. Here’s the breakdown from the ABA Journal:

16% of Americans rate lawyers’ honesty and ethical standards as “high” or “very high,” according to a Gallup poll taken in December… Lawyers did better than business executives, insurance salespeople and stockbrokers. Twelve percent of Americans viewed those occupations as having high or very high ethics and honesty. The percentage decreased to 8% for advertising practitioners, car salespeople and senators, and 6% for members of Congress.

In the spirit of full disclosure, there’s a huge caveat to the information as presented. The current 16% is lower than the previous year’s 21% — maybe number fudging like that is why people don’t trust lawyers. What can I tell you, the profession has had a bad reputation with numbers for a while now. What they are good at is spin — considering that lawyers are now ranked more trustworthy than executives, stockbrokers, and Pelosi’s coworkers, I’d still consider this to be a huge win!

In case you were wondering, the most trusted profession went to nursing. Tough luck, doctors.

Lawyers Viewed As More Ethical Than Car Salespeople And US Lawmakers [ABA Journal]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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