Is there a personality type which makes one better suited to practicing law? After years of debate and research, the definitive answers appears to be: “yes and no.” A study published in the June 1998 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that several immune system measurements improved in optimistic law students but either declined or increased more modestly in pessimistic law students during the stressful first semester of law school. Seemingly, an optimistic personality would be beneficial to anyone regardless of the individual’s line of work.
Other studies by legal career counselors have concluded that although all personality types are found in the legal profession, certain types may tend to thrive while others may feel somewhat out of place. These studies were based on Carl Jung’s theories about normal personality differences and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, a commonly-used psychological test of different personality styles or preferences. The four ( 4) human personality dimensions measured by the MBTI are:
- Extroversion vs. Introversion: Extroverts focus on the outer world of people and events, while introverts pay attention to the inner world of thoughts, reflections and ideas.
- Sensing vs. Intuition: Sensors rely on sensory experiences, such as sight, taste and smell, while intuitive people are more interested in the meaning behind the data.
- Judging vs. Perceiving: Judgers are organized and thorough while perceivers are more spontaneous and flexible.
- Thinking vs Feeling: Thinkers base their decisions on impersonal analysis and logic. Feelers, on the other hand, prefer to make decisions by using a more personal, subjective and values-based approach.
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These four dimensions of personality can dictate how well suited we are to our jobs, and how successful and happy we will be in our day-to-day tasks.
In 1993 the ABA Journal published the results of a nationwide survey of lawyer personality styles. Over 3,000 practicing lawyers, all ABA members, completed the MBTI for the survey which noted that personality preferences in attorneys show up in communication styles, research techniques, legal writing, office organization, and interaction with other attorneys.
The survey came up with some interesting results. While most adults in the United States prefer extroversion (7 5% ), a majority of attorneys prefer introversion (57%). Extroverted lawyers typically have to work harder to maintain the focus on complex mental ideas and concepts required by most law practices. While about 70% of the U.S. population prefers to gather information through sensing as opposed to using intuition, only 43% of the lawyers studied were so inclined. Again, grappling with complex legal concepts and meanings beneath the raw data may cause intuitors to be overly represented in the legal profession.
The study showed law to be overwhelmingly a thinker’s profession. While approximately 60% of all men in the U.S. prefer thinking over feeling, and 35% of all women prefer thinking over feeling, in the study fully 81% of male lawyers and 66% of female lawyers preferred thinking. Averaged together, these thinkers represent 78% of all lawyers. Because of their objectivity, thinkers tend not to take conflict personally. Really strong thinkers actually look forward to a good argument. Feelers, on the other hand, typically are uncomfortable with conflict, take conflict personally, and seek to promote harmony. Thinkers tend to be attracted to the law for its intellectual challenge and may enjoy the conflict, whereas feelers often enjoy the law because of the opportunities to help people and are disenchanted if they feel they are not accomplishing this.
So it appears certain personality types are more comfortable practicing law. Anyone can find a good niche in law, but thinkers will typically find that easier to do than feelers. Similarly, introverted attorneys and intuitive attorneys are more likely to find a comfortable practice niche than extroverted or sensory attorneys. Thinker-Judger combinations made up about 50% of all lawyers surveyed. These personality traits combined result in a no-nonsense, logical, bottom-line approach. At the opposite end, the sensing and feeling preferences in combination accounted for less than 10% of the lawyers studied. This combination is typically not interested in hours of analytical thinking about broad legal principles.
To learn more about your own personality tendencies and how well they fit with your current practice, consider reviewing self-help books about career satisfaction and personality. Two good ones are Do What You Are by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger and Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey. Understanding your own “lawyer” personality and adjusting your life and practice to match it will go a long way toward establishing and maintaining a high degree of personal happiness and life satisfaction.