Opinion

Morning Poll: Are you a lawyer?

ARLnow columnist (and immigration attorney) James Montana

Sometimes, it seems like half of the people commenting on our stories are lawyers.

There are the fights over the exact technical meaning of words, citations of state and federal law, and — on occasion — people actually self-identifying as lawyers. That’s not to mention the ability to comment on news stories throughout the day.

And apparently we’re not the only site with a comment section that seems pretty lawyerly.

Defector, the site started by former employees of Gawker, noted in its recent annual report that, no, all of its commenters are not lawyers.

“The fact that nearly half of churned subscribers were experiencing financial hardship served as a good reminder that our readership is not a monolith,” the report said. But surely there is a not insignificant cohort of attorneys in there.

There is a decent chance that significant portions of the ARLnow commentariat and overall readership are, in fact, lawyers, given how many folks in the legal profession seem to live in Arlington. In Lyon Village, for instance, you can hardly ride an e-scooter down a curving single-family home street without passing a half-dozen two-lawyer households.

So today, we’re going to try to (unscientifically) see just how esquire-y our readers actually are. Feel free to discuss it ad nauseum in the comments while billing by the hour.

Author

  • Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by a Pentagon City resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news, ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.

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