Articulacy, intelligence, curiosity and the ability to both investigate and prosecute with confidence are inarguably the prime qualities of lawyers.
They are also qualities that are fundamental to national leaders: charged with balancing security, domestic policies and interests with international diplomacy, the ability to make efficient decisions under pressure where there are significant consequences, and to understand the complexity of public policy details while also viewing a larger, long-term picture of national prosperity and equality.
It is perhaps unsurprising that many national leaders – presidential and prime ministerial, not least in the US and Australia, have forged careers as lawyers prior to entering the political sphere. While some have faced criticism over their former career records in the justice system, the majority have carried over credibility as upholders of justice and social welfare into their roles as creators and servants of public policy.
If Kamala Harris is officially endorsed as the US Democrats’ nomination for President, the former District Attorney will be the 28th potential US President to be a former lawyer. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the earliest lawyers to be President, followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and current President Joe Biden. Former lawyers-turned Presidents of the US are only outnumbered by those with military service.
In the United Kingdom, newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined politics following an extensive legal career, including stints as Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service. At one stage in his legal career, Starmer was a prominent human rights barrister and was made a King’s Counsel at the age of 39.
In Australia, Malcolm Turnbull and Julia Gillard are the most recent former lawyers to become Prime Minister, joining the ranks of other former leaders including Robert Menzies, John Howard, Gough Whitlam and Edmund Barton. In 2019, Gillard told the Harvard Business Review that of politics, “At its best, it’s a noble cause; we want the best, brightest, most motivated, passionate, concerned, to go into it.”
Her sentiments echoed those of Abraham Lincoln’s claim that “The practice of law is a noble profession.”
Australian Prime Ministers with legal qualifications
Professor Carol Mills, Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Governance & Centre for Local Government at the University of Technology Sydney tells LSJ, “Just over one third of Australia’s 31 Prime Ministers have had legal qualifications. This includes the first PM, Edmund Barton, who was a barrister, and the two longest serving Prime Ministers, Robert Menzies and John Howard. It is the largest single occupation category over the history since federation.”
There has definitely been a recent trend towards Australian Prime Ministers holding legal qualifications.
“Whilst overall just over a third of Australia’s 31 Prime Ministers have been lawyers, nine of the past 12 have been legally qualified,” Mills adds.
“This pattern likely reflects a number of factors. These include the major growth in the overall number of Australians with law degrees; a growing trend towards law being perceived as a generalist qualification, not just a pathway to being a practising barrister or solicitor; and increasing perceptions of the alignment between legal skills and the lawmaking role of governments and the parliament.”
Mills says that traditionally, legal expertise is an expectation within the Attorney General’s Department and amongst Crown solicitors, who require an understanding of the logistics of legislation and the system of government from a technical point of view. More than 45 universities offer law degrees in Australia, and an approximate 15,000 new law students enrol each year. The rising trend of studying law is inevitably leading to greater representation of legally qualified members of political parties.
“A lot more people are doing law almost as a general grounding and then applying some of those general skills, as well as the technical skills, to their profession. So, in some senses, it’s not surprising to see more people with legal background come into politics.
“In the US, we see with Kamala Harris, much like with Julia Gillard, that they use their qualifications for social good. They worked in areas of law where there was a strong commitment to ethics and justice in a broader sense.”
Beyond the textbook skills of interpreting and enforcing the law, the dedication to social justice and public welfare can prepare skilled lawyers to be strong contenders for public office.
“I think we’ve seen a growing understanding that the law reflects and influences society, and especially in the case of a reformer in politics, they’re more likely to take a proactive, preventative, and nuanced approach to the law rather than simply increase laws as a solution to problems,” Mills says.
Harris championing her legal credentials
Since mid-July when Biden officially pulled out of the race, political pundits have reported that Trump and the Republicans fear a contest between the former President, a convicted felon, and an accomplished legal and political expert in current Vice President Harris.
In 2010, Harris oversaw the largest state justice department in the US when she was elected Attorney General of California. She was the first Black and South Asian Attorney General in the state’s history. Under her leadership, the department pursued exploitative private colleges and negotiated a $US20 billion settlement with banks following the foreclosure crisis in 2008. In 2003, Harris was elected District Attorney of San Francisco, where her political experience began, along with her well-honed ability to stand up to heavy criticism and lobbyists. Her focus on preventing prisoners from recidivism through initiating education and training within the justice system, along with a dedicated aversion to the death penalty, rankled with conservatives and police unions.
Her advocacy for women’s autonomy and reproductive rights is well known. Her former legal career points to a focus on policies that champion climate protection, LGBTQI protections, greater scrutiny of big tech and banks, and police accountability for behaviours that cause harm or death.
“I think Harris is demonstrating her credentials to a group of people whose vote she needs, who might be seen as traditional Democrats but are probably feeling disenfranchised,” Mills says.
“I think she’s using her qualifications as a lawyer to demonstrate that she is a different style of candidate, that she’s thoughtful, rational, and procedural, because her opponent is a counter of all of those things. I think that she’s using direct experience in her prosecutorial roles to build credibility that she’s capable of taking on the presidential functions.”
A nuanced, sophisticated approach to law
Mills says that one unfortunate trend in Australia is for university graduates to go directly into public service and political careers with no prior work experience. While it is not always a recipe for a limited world view, the politicians who have forged careers in the law or otherwise prior to rising up the party ranks have an understanding of where theory meets reality.
“Law teaches you discipline and an ability to deal with a lot of material, and also to work long hours,” Mills says.
“Good lawyers also recognise that nothing is black and white, and rather than applying the law as written, we look to skilled lawyers in various professions as good at interpretation, good at analysis, and able to problem solve, consider the options that may not be obvious at first glance, and to thoughtfully work their way through them.”
Mills cites Julia Gillard as an example of a Prime Minister who had a career before she came into politics at a relatively young age.
“She had built up a very senior career in her own area. So, beyond studying law she was actually applying the law and understanding the impact of the legal system,” she says.
“[Australia is] a very regulated country, we either ban things or make them compulsory. We have a tendency to react to a complex problem by looking for a solution that can be implemented really quickly. A lot of people see that as the way the law has to work. I think we need those people with legal qualifications who are in positions of power to represent a diversity of professional experience in using those qualifications, and to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of what the law is.”
Idealists and reformists
Mills says, “Of Australia’s legally qualified Prime Ministers over the past 50 years, several have been seen as reformists although the contemporary social, political and economic environment has influenced their capacity to drive lasting reforms.”
“However, no matter what success you’ve had professionally, politics is a different environment … an approach that prioritises negotiation and compromise is more important than ever.”
This article by Cat Woods is republished from the Law Society of NSW Journal under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Image by Neon Tommy - Obama 68 under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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