The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers
The Journal of Legal Analysis, Forthcoming
University of Chicago Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 732
67 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2015 Last revised: 22 Sep 2015
Date Written: August 26, 2015
Abstract
The ideology of American lawyers has been a persistent source of discussion and debate. Two obstacles, however, have prevented this topic from being systematically studied: the sheer number of attorneys in the United States and the need for a methodology that makes comparing the ideology of specific individuals possible. In this paper, we present a comprehensive mapping of lawyers’ ideologies that has overcome these hurdles. We use a new dataset that links the largest database of political ideology with the largest database of lawyers’ identities to complete the most extensive analysis of the political ideology of American lawyers ever conducted.
Keywords: Ideology; Lawyers; Law School; Campaign Donations
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