Fun Facts About Lawyers
There are how many lawyers in the entire country?
There are 1,338,678 lawyers in the United States and the last time there were less than 1 million lawyers in the country was in 1998 (985,921 lawyers). The five states that have the most lawyers are:
- New York 177,035
- California 170,044
- Texas 90,485
- Florida 78,244
- Illinois 63,422
The First Lady Lawyer
The first woman in U. S. History to become a lawyer was Arabella Mansfield from Iowa. She had to sue the State Bar to sit for the bar exam because only men had been able to sit for the bar exam in the past. She was admitted to the Iowa Bar in 1869.
Cruise Control Given to You by Lawyers
An engineer became frustrated by his lawyer who while he talked kept speeding up and slowing down the car, so he developed cruise control.
The Bar
The “bar” is not only the name of the exam lawyers are required to take. It also refers to the physical wall in a courtroom which divides the lawyers and judges from the public. Passing the bar gains lawyers admittance to work on the other side of the wall.
Biggest Liar
Cumbria, England hosts the World’s Biggest Liar event, which is an annual competition for telling lies. Contestants have five minutes to tell the most convincing lie, but lawyers are banned from it.
Oldest Profession
The profession of being a lawyer dates back to Ancient Greece. Lawyers were prohibited from taking payment for pleading the case of another, although this rule was largely ignored.
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court was established in 1789 when Congress passed the Judiciary Act. George Washington had the unique opportunity to fill the entire Supreme Court because there were no sitting justices.
Lady Boss
Sandra Day O’Conner was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 until her retirement 2006. She was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
California’s First Female Lawyer
Clara Shortridge Foltz was a woman of many firsts in the legal profession. She was the first woman to be admitted to Hastings College of Law, the first woman to practice law in California, the first woman deputy district attorney in the country and the creator of the public defender system.
The Notorious RBG
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is only the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court. While attending law school at Harvard she was one of nine women amongst a class of 500 law students. She has been a Justice since 1993 and even at 86 years old has no plans to retire from the bench.
