Poll: Do Lawyers generally smoke cigarettes more than the avg. populace?

[stateofbeasley]

I'm a first year law student, and I'm surprised at the percentage of people who smoke cigarettes.

I'd estimate that 15-20% of the undergrads I've seen smoke, and some of those only occasional smokers (have 1 or 2 at a bar). On the contrary, at least half of my 1L classmates are smokers.

I wonder why this is. Any comments?

Disclaimer: I am a non-smoker and this thread is not meant to be a flaming ground for the various moral arguments for & against smoking.

 

My dads a lawyer and he and most of his friends dont......

 

[ajpa123]

None of the 3 lawyers i have dealt with this year smoke, the people around them do though, like the secretaries.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I'm a lawyer, and the answer is yes.

 

[stateofbeasley]

I'm a lawyer, and the answer is yes.

Do you think there is any particular reason for this?

Under the Carrol Towing test the (Probability * Loss) due to smoking is already moderately high because of the monetary cost of cigarettes and some immediate negative health benefits. The long term loss could be catestrophic (death of lung cancer, emphazema (sp?)). On the other side of the equation, it would seem that the Burden of not smoking is fairly low (don't have to spend $).

Now I think it is probable that many of my classmates were smokers before they got to law school and would therefore not really weigh the cost/benefits.

Perhaps the question should be: Are smokers more likely to become Lawyers? And why?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I am a lawyer, and said no.

 

[beer]

Maybe not more than the average populace.
Probably more than your average postgrad-educated student, including all Ph.Ds and MDs

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally posted by: Don_Vito
I am a lawyer, and said no.

You are in the military Doesn't count

I may have misspoke. When I started law school, about 4 people in my section smoked. When we were done, I was in the minority. I think it is an age thing. I think younger layers are more likely to smoke than older ones. That is just me.

I guess it is more a matter of who you hang around. Vito is probably right in the most part, but I think younger lawyers are smoking more.

 

[axelfox]

Drinking is where the problem's at.

 

[FatJackSprat]

I'm a lawyer and I quit smoking during my first semester of law school. I didn't want to get a craving during an exam. I wouldn't say that most of the school smoked while I was there, but a good number did. They had to stand out in front of the building to smoke and sometimes it looked like there were about 35 people there.

 

[vi edit]

Quick service management has to be the worse.