Wednesday Open Line


“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.” That was the observation of Alexis de Tocqueville in his famous 1835 book, “Democracy in America.” Lawyering came early to the United States. In the middle of the Revolutionary War, the College of William and Mary established the first law school this month in 1779. The Williamsburg, Virginia school didn’t hire the professors, as they were paid directly by their students. Today’s attorney’s are paid well, with a median income over $120,000, or nearly triple the nation median of $42,000. As a measure of our enduring devotion to legal authority, there are over 170,000 law offices across the nation, employing over a million lawyers and clerks. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.