Over the years, people have told me that lawyers are very smart. However, having been in the business for so long, I would say that while there are some very smart lawyers out there, I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-20%, but not necessarily the rest. As you can see, there are a large number of lawyers and attorneys who are visiting the matter so that they can pay you more money. Not to mention the fact that paralegals and other people in the office are the ones who do most of the work. Of course, instead of riding my high horse or delving into some lawyer jokes, I’d like to talk to you about some research on the subject.
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on August 28, 2012 titled; “Study shows why lawyers are so smart” by Sam Favate, which appeared in the Law Blog section, and I have no doubts that a group of lawyers was behind this study. The article noted that even those who only study for the LSAT for 3 months or 100 hours do better on certain parts of the IQ test. An MIT professor of neuroscience believes the study isn’t too surprising in that any time the brain learns something new or foreign, it creates new pathways, which is about what the researchers concluded because it seemed to increase communication across the brain.
Well, no problem, and while I don’t use lawyers much and don’t consider them to be more intelligent, I also realize that because they live and work in a world of fake makeup, different from the reality, they are working or learning a whole new environment. Almost as if we threw you in a third world country, in a village with different customs and different language, you have to learn your way of coexistence, and you will develop different paths too.
Now then, I would like to introduce to you that computer programmers have also gotten smart and created new communication paths through the brain as they dive into a whole new world. Same with math or music, it seems like a whole different world. Those who travel a lot, or even New York taxi drivers while learning the ins and outs of navigating around the city, have also been shown to increase their IQ levels and create new brain pathways.
Therefore, in conclusion, I would say that a person who has to use his brain for something rather strange and a completely new way of thinking, will somewhat increase his level of intelligence. If we say it makes them smarter, so be it. In this case lawyers are somewhat smarter. In fact, I hope you think about all of this and think about it. If I were a lawyer, I would be willing to discuss this with you on an intellectual level, but in this field I judge, and you cannot twist the law of nature in your favour. It is as it is.