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 fall behind in IQ studyLawyers 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.

 

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Source: Social mobility and the Professions, Lindsey Macmillan, CMPO, University of Bristol