Lawyers Dwindle in Senate

The number of lawyers in the 35-member Arkansas Senate has decreased from 13 (37 percent of the total) to 2 (5.7 percent) over the past decade. But the number of lawyers in the 100-member state House of Representatives has increased from 11 to 15 during that time.

It’s not necessarily that fewer lawyers are being elected to the Senate, said Charles Schlumberger, chair of the Legislation Committee for the Arkansas Bar Association. He believes fewer lawyers are running for the Legislature in general.

“These days, more and more, it seems being a legislator is becoming almost a full-time job,” Schlumberger said. “It is extremely hard to run a successful law practice and devote as much time as the legislators are having to devote.”

“I think it had a lot to do with term limits,” said Sen. Dave Bisbee, R-Rogers, who is a building contractor. “Attorneys seemed to stay longer than other legislators.”

Because of term limits, almost 40 percent of the Arkansas General Assembly — 36 representatives and 16 senators — were freshmen last year. Term limits became law in 1992, restricting state senators to two four-year terms and representatives to three two-year terms. Because of some constitutional glitches, term limits didn’t affect all senators in the Legislature until 2003.

Bisbee said people generally believe the majority of senators were lawyers in years past, but that’s apparently a misconception. In 1965, there were 11 lawyers in the state Senate. In 1973, there were only seven. Those are years selected at random for review. Only people who listed “lawyer” or “attorney” as their profession were counted.

In any event, it seems that some politicians prefer to run as non-lawyers.

“I think the first time I campaigned, I campaigned on the grounds that I am not a lawyer,” Bisbee said of 1993, when he was first elected as a state representative. “It seemed to work.”

Is the Legislature better now that term limits have thrown some career politicians out of office?

“It’s a mixed bag,” Bisbee said. “You threw out some dead wood. You threw out some corruption. But you also threw out some experienced and tremendously talented, good people.”

In 2002, David Matthews, a Rogers lawyer and former state representative, wrote in the Arkansas Lawyer that “good lawyers” are particularly suited for the Legislature because they are the “most well educated citizens in the state in the area of critical thinking skills.”

“I don’t think lawyers have a monopoly on good sense,” Bisbee said. “I think the voters want people in the Legislature who have good sense. But I can tell you, we’re hurtin’ for some good lawyers … I worked on an impact-fee bill last session, and frankly I was in over my head.”

“I think the public is happier to have some people with some good old common sense for a change,” said Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville. “We have staff attorneys.”

“Do you want the staff running the state?” Bisbee asked, saying lawyers are a necessity in the Legislature. “But no profession needs a monopoly in the Legislature.”

Legislative Lawyers

Year — Senate — House

2003 — 2 — 15

1993 — 13 — 11

1979 — 7 — 14

1965 — 11 — 19

Source: Arkansas Legislative Directories