Lawyer dominance in legislatures declined as legislative service became full-time work

Evidence

In recent years, lawyers have lost a little of their dominance in Congress and state legislatures. In 1966, 26 percent of state legislators were lawyers; in 1986, 16.4 percent; in 2014, it was down to 14.4 percent. By 1980 or so, lawyers made up less than half the members of Congress for the first time in years. In 2015, 40 percent of the members of Congress held a law degree. One reason for the decline may be that these jobs (Congress, the state legislatures) have gotten tougher. They are definitely full-​time now—​certainly Congress is. And for the first time in our history, state political positions may interfere with a lawyer’s career. … Nonetheless, it is still fair to say that lawyers are as common as sparrows in government; wherever one turns, one stumbles over lawyers, either inside the bureaucracy or outside of it, acting as lobbyists or attorneys for companies with government business. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1298