According to Grok (large grain of salt needed) there are about 1.1 million doctors and 1.3 million lawyers in the US. Do you personally know more doctors or lawyers? I mean outside of professionally, not doctors or lawyers that you only visit for help.
For me, it’s not even close. I know many lawyers and only two doctors.
Lawyers by far.
If you include any doctor (other than medical) that gap narrows but still more lawyers. (is a law degree a doctorate?..never heard of a lawyer being referred to as a “doctor” but the degree is a doctor of jurisprudence…not sure how that works).
Lawyers.
I teach English as a Second Language and legal English is a specialty of mine.
Definitely lawyers.
I may or may not be dating one.
Do I “know” a doctor if I see him for a medical condition?
Among my personal acquaintances I know one lawyer and zero doctors. But if you include doctors and lawyers whom I’ve seen professionally, then there are more doctors by far.
Not for the purpose of this poll. It’s explicitly in the three sentence OP.
Three doctors. Many lawyers.
I’ve been a lawyer/judge married to a lawyer for 40 years - so it isn’t even close.
Lawyers run in my family. My brother was a lawyer before becoming a Superior Court Judge, my uncle was a lawyer for the US Navy, and my niece now practices Family Law. I do know a few doctors, but that’s because I have a condition that requires multiple doctors to manage.
Since I’m a doctor, I know a lot more fellow doctors than I do lawyers. If I only count people I know in person (that is not counting the ones that advertise on TV), then I only know one lawyer.
I came from a family with lots of doctors and was in a pre-medical academic “track” before being seduced by Finance. I have four doctors among my first cousins, and four more among classmates I’m still in touch with from the 1980s. At our Christmas dinner there will be two doctors (friends) and among our close friends are a three more (two are married to each other).
I do have two lawyers in my extended family and of course in my work I deal with more lawyers, some of which I would consider friends.
But yes, doctors by a mile.
Oddly enough, I consider the lawyers I know to be much more ethical than the doctors I know.
For a different perspective (from Germany, a country that definitely has fewer lawyers on average than the US): I know three doctors, two friends (one is a dentist, my ex, if that counts) and one uncle, and exactly one lawyer. But that one’s a doper actually who I met on this board! I also never had to use the service of a lawyer in my 57 years of existence, knock on wood.
ETA: I just asked Google about the numbers of medical doctors and lawyers in Germany. According to the AI, there are 437,000 practicing doctors, but only 166,000 lawyers (in a population of ca. 84 Mio.)
There are a few lawyers here in The Home. Only one former doctor that I know of. My wife’s one niece is a doctor, another is an acupuncturist, and a third is an ER nurse (whose daughter is getting her medical degree). So I guess I know more medical people than legal eagles. Nobody in my immediate family, living or dead, was ever in the medical or legal fields.
I know personally three lawyers only one of whom actually practices. A cousin was repelled by the corruption and quit to become a stock broker. A nephew was not willing to put in all the hours and got a job as a paralegal without informing them that he had actually graduated and passed the bar exam. The third actually practices. My daughter-in-law is a doctor.
If you count PhD doctors, then I know more doctors. If you count only physicians, then more lawyers.
MDs and PhDs individually each outnumber lawyers in my social circle. All of the MDs are either retired or work in medical tech or pharmaceutical research, though. Most I know through surfing and other outdoor activities which I suspect might have something to do with the imbalance.
What about if I know them sort of professionally, but not because I visit them for help? Like if I work at a prison and I know the doctors or if I’m a court reporter and know lawyers because of it?
If those count, I definitely know more lawyers than doctors
I was thinking of knowing them socially.
I work with/for a lot of doctors.
I think it’s doctors, for no particular reason (I’m a musician).
I’m Jewish. About 1/3 of the synagogue membership is doctors and lawyers.
Still, it depends on how you count.
I know people with law degrees who are not currently practicing-- one is teaching law school, one is a judge, and one is holding an elected office that occupies her full-time. And I know one law school grad who is a legal ethicist, and never took the bar.
Are they lawyers?
I know quite a few academics with PhDs, because my parents were such, although I am assuming they are not what you mean (albeit, they were the original doctors).
Do DVMs count? I know 2 socially. Dentists? I know one.
I know a few retired doctors and lawyers, who put in 25 or 30 years and retired. I’m counting them.
I have 2 cousins and an aunt who are doctors (physicians), and 1 cousin who practices as a state’s attorney while a second cousin works full time for the Innocence Project.
I’m guessing that it comes out fairly even. An Innocence Project here, or a call for volunteers there, and the numbers are skewed. But in general, I would say 25 to 30% of friends and friendly acquaintances.
Still trying to count.
I give up.