Law & order

The real masters of the universe: The astounding influence lawyers have on U.S. government and policy

Author George R.R. Martin once wrote, “Politicians were mostly people who had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers.” Although we can’t speak to the comparative ethics of lawyers and politicians, it is indeed true that the United States is unique among developed countries in the share of its politicians who have a background in law.

According to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union Chronicle of Parliamentary Elections compiled by political scientist Adam Bonica, 46 percent of US congress members are lawyers (which is actually slightly low, historically).The country that has the second largest share of lawyers in the national legislature is Chile at 32 percent, followed by Argentina at 25 percent. The average across the 32 countries for which he has data is 15 percent. In Sweden and Japan, 4 percent of politicians in the national legislature are lawyers, and in the Netherlands only 1 percent are. This bias could influence policymaking, help explain the persistent lack of women in office and shift the strategies of both the left and right.