Twenty-five US presidents were lawyers, admitted to the bar before taking the oath of office. That makes law the single most common professional background in the history of the presidency, accounting for more than half of everyone who has held the job.
The 25 Lawyer-Presidents
The American Bar Association identifies the following presidents as having been admitted to the bar before entering office:1American Bar Association. Before They Were Presidents… They Were Lawyers
- John Adams (1797–1801)
- Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
- James Monroe (1817–1825)
- John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)
- Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
- Martin Van Buren (1837–1841)
- John Tyler (1841–1845)
- James K. Polk (1845–1849)
- Millard Fillmore (1850–1853)
- Franklin Pierce (1853–1857)
- James Buchanan (1857–1861)
- Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
- Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881)
- Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)
- Grover Cleveland (1885–1889, 1893–1897)
- Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
- William McKinley (1897–1901)
- William Howard Taft (1909–1913)
- Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
- Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)
- Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
- Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
- Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
- Barack Obama (2009–2017)
How the Count Breaks Down by Era
The concentration is heaviest in the 19th century. From Washington through McKinley, 18 of 25 presidents had legal training. The proportion tapers off in the 20th and 21st centuries as military service and business careers became more common routes to the White House. From 1789 through 1900, roughly three-quarters of presidents had practiced law. Since 1900, that share has dropped closer to half.1American Bar Association. Before They Were Presidents… They Were Lawyers
How These Presidents Trained as Lawyers
“Lawyer” meant different things across the 25. Formal law schools barely existed in early America. Harvard Law School didn’t open until 1817, decades after the first six presidents had launched their legal careers.2Harvard Law School. Harvard Law’s First Century Aspiring lawyers instead “read the law” by apprenticing with an established attorney, studying Blackstone’s Commentaries, and learning courtroom practice by observation.
John Adams graduated from Harvard College in 1755, then spent two years studying law under James Putnam in Worcester, Massachusetts. By 1770 he had built perhaps the largest caseload of any attorney in Boston.3Miller Center. John Adams – Life Before the Presidency4William & Mary Law School. Jefferson’s Vision Fulfilled5Monticello. College of William and Mary
Abraham Lincoln’s route was even less conventional. He didn’t apprentice in anyone’s office. He taught himself by reading law books under a tree near New Salem, Illinois. As Lincoln later told a young student: “It is a small matter whether you read with any one or not. I did not read with any one. Get the books and read and study them in their every feature, and that is the main thing.”6Federal Bar Association. Abraham Lincoln at the Bar Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, and Grover Cleveland all entered the profession through similar reading and apprenticeship arrangements.
Later presidents came through law schools. Rutherford B. Hayes was the first Harvard Law School graduate to be elected president, in the class of 1845.7Harvard Law School. HLS’s First Alumnus Elected as President – Rutherford B. Hayes Barack Obama is the only other Harvard Law graduate to have served in the office. Franklin D. Roosevelt enrolled at Columbia Law School but never graduated; he passed the bar anyway and worked at the New York firm Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn before leaving the profession for politics in 1910.8Miller Center. Franklin D. Roosevelt – Life Before the Presidency
Notable Practices Before the White House
Lincoln practiced in Illinois for 25 years. He and his partners handled more than 5,000 cases; the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project has documented 5,173. Much of the work was promissory notes, debt collection, and property disputes, but Lincoln also took on high-stakes corporate work. He represented the Illinois Central Railroad in a landmark tax case, successfully arguing that the company’s charter exempted it from county taxes in exchange for paying the state seven percent of its profits. The victory saved the railroad millions of dollars. Lincoln then had to sue his own client to collect his $5,000 fee.9State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court History – Illinois Central Railroad Taxes
Martin Van Buren was admitted to the bar in 1803 and built a thriving practice in New York, moving from Kinderhook to Hudson and eventually Albany as his appellate work grew.10Empire State Plaza. Martin Van Buren He also served as New York’s Attorney General from 1815 to 1819.11Historical Society of the New York Courts. Martin Van Buren William McKinley served as prosecuting attorney of Stark County, Ohio, from 1869 to 1871 before entering Congress.12Bioguide. William McKinley
Barack Obama practiced civil rights, voting rights, and employment law at the Chicago firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland until his election to the US Senate in 2004. He also taught at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004, first as a Lecturer and then as a Senior Lecturer, teaching a course he designed called Current Issues in Racism and the Law and later a constitutional law course.13The University of Chicago Law School. From the Green Lounge to the White House
Why Law Was Such a Common Path
In early America, law was one of the few professional careers that doubled as an entry point into politics. Lawyers drafted constitutions, argued before courts, and served as local officeholders. The skills overlapped: persuading juries translates to persuading voters, and interpreting statutes helps when you’re the one signing them. Legal practice also built name recognition. A successful trial lawyer like Lincoln became a public figure in Illinois long before he entered politics, and Van Buren’s appellate victories made him one of the most prominent men in New York. For ambitious people in the 18th and 19th centuries, the courthouse was where reputations were made.