Lawyers and Politics Revisited: Structural Advantages of Lawyer-Politicians

In: American journal of political science: AJPS, Band 19, Heft 1, S. 41-51

Abstract

A study confirming & enlarging upon a partial explanation of the dominance of lawyers in US politics: that lawyers are advantaged by having legal skills which give them a monopoly over one important route of advancement -- the cluster of offices related to the judicial system. Using data from interviews conducted in 1957 with 504 state legislators from the states of Tenn, Ohio, NJ, & Calif & original data on the interviewees' subsequent political careers it was found that: (1) lawyers move from the state legislature to other offices at a much greater rate than nonlawyers, & the difference is the result of their ability to advance to "lawyers-only" positions; (2) a major reason for the "overpresentation" of laywers in US state legislatures is that legislative service has a greater political career value for lawyers than for nonlawyers; (3) lawyers who move from the state legislature to a "lawyers-only" position tend to stay there; (4) lawyers do not invest appreciably more time in their political careers than nonlawyers; but (5) lawyers are much more likely than nonlawyers to achieve their political career goals. 3 Tables. Modified HA.