Only 14% of Americans don’t think the law is a noble career, and most think they could pass the bar with enough preparation
The United States often prides itself on being a nation of laws, and embodied in the Constitution is the principle that everyone - including the government itself - is bound by the same rules. This high minded idea often runs aground, however, on the grubby reality of the lawyers, judges, and police officers who are responsible for administering justice. Lawyers have, perhaps unfairly, earned a reputation as sharks and ambulance chasers.
Despite this, a new study from YouGov Omnibus shows that 49% of Americans still think that the legal profession is “still fundamentally a noble career”. Only 14% think that the law is not a noble career, while 36% don’t have an opinion either way.
Americans are fairly confident that they, too, could participate in this noble career. 53% of those who have not gone to law school or taken the bar exam say that, if they studied for it, they could pass the bar. People’s confidence in this varies, perhaps unsurprisingly, according to their own education level. Those with postgraduate degrees are the most confident, with 79% saying that they could pass the bar.
