In response to the Virginia Bar Association president’s lament over the dearth of lawyers in the Virginia state legislature, Overlawyered, in this piece, suggests that
… one possibility is that lawyers do on average bring with them a superior skill set on issues of legislation and governance, but that the voting public no longer trusts the independence of their judgment and their allegiance to the general good as it once did, fearing that they will instead advance the interest of organized factions, perhaps including the self-interest of the legal profession itself.
The training that lawyers have, and their “on the ground” experience with law and legislation unquestionably gives lawyers a superior skill set for dealing with governance, but Mr. Olson once again underlines the major issue facing the legal profession today.
