Lawyers fall behind in IQ study
Lawyers have become less intelligent compared to the average person over thelast decade, research from the Centre for Market and Public Organisation
(CMPO) has revealed.
Lawyers have become less intelligent compared to the average person over the last decade, research from the Centre for Market and Public Organisation
(CMPO) has revealed.
The study compared IQ scores for lawyers born in 1958 to those born in 1970 - who are currently climbing the ranks of law firms and barristers’ chambers.
Lawyers in the earlier group scored 11 per cent better than the average, but the 1970 group were just 8 per cent more intelligent.
This was a greater fall than the majority of other professions where the gap narrowed by around 1 percentage point.
Despite the shrinking ability gap, lawyers are now more likely to have come from a wealthier background than those born in the fifties, with the family income for the parents of lawyers increasing much faster than the average (TheLawyer.com 2 Feb 2009).
Lindsey Macmillan, a researcher at the Bristol University-based CMPO, said:
“Despite the fact that lawyers are looking a lot less like the average person in terms of their family income, they are looking more like the average person in terms of ability.”
The gap in IQ performance compared to the average fell for most other vocations, as well as the law. Doctors, teachers, bankers and stock brokers
all moved closer to average intelligence between the two studies.
Artists, engineers, scientist and journalists have all become more intelligent when compared to average IQ scores, the research found.
(To view a larger version, please click on image)
Source: Social mobility and the Professions, Lindsey Macmillan, CMPO, University of Bristol
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Readers' comments (34)
Aching Gump | 27-Feb-2009 2:38 pm
Advice
Life's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.
That's the best darn piece of advice ah've ever heard, and I didn't need no lawyer to give it to me none.
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Major Misunderstanding | 27-Feb-2009 2:42 pm
I'm outraged
This is just another example of The Lawyer's shockingly casual Communist approach to life, associating high incomes and wealth with stupidity. It is outrageous to make such a claim.
Also did you notice they could not resist saying that journalists were more clever these days? I suppose they are all getting paid less than in 1950 and living in a bloody hippy commune together. Astonishing.
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Lionel Hutz | 27-Feb-2009 2:46 pm
I don't understand
can you repeat the article?
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Luddite | 27-Feb-2009 2:50 pm
stupider lawyers
Is it because lawyers have been spending too much time on Facebook?
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Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 2:51 pm
great story
The Lawyer's keen news sense remains intact - publishing all the news from 1970 as it breaks...
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City Lawyer | 27-Feb-2009 2:56 pm
The solution: Recruit Law students with solid Law degrees from good universities!
That's because in the 50s, only law students could become lawyers but now any Tom Denis and Harry can become a lawyer with any old degree or by having a rather pompous family member who is a lawyer and weaving their way into the legal system which might I add, used to be for those with the brains. It's a wonder that anyone still bothers to do 3 year law degrees. Also, there is a real need to standardise what is learnt in all the universities and Law colleges. So much emphasis is placed on getting a 2:i or 1st from Oxbridge. Such qualifications certainly improve the CV but not the IQ.
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Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 2:57 pm
At Major Misunderstanding
Trying supporting lawyers Major Misunderstanding on an IT level and you might think differently
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nana | 27-Feb-2009 2:59 pm
1+1
Use your brains, this article has been drafted in such a way to draw readers attention and increase their internet site stake !
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anon | 27-Feb-2009 3:04 pm
IQ
Greatstory - You must be one of those stupid lawyers the research is talking about - it's people born in 1970 who are now being measured. Dur!
PS Athough obviously, the research is deeply flawed!
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Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 3:08 pm
Drivel
I would love to see a journalist negotiate the terms of a simple, bilateral loan.
The law employs, as it has always done, the finest minds in the City.
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