What is the origin of lawyers in hell jokes?

They’re not evil. People just like making fun of them, and they make fun of themselves.

@Caravanfan Oh ok. I thought it was about ambulance chasing, or their attempts to eeck out a living durning lean times by whatever means necessary?

@RedDeerGuy1 It is about that. There are a lot of stereotypes about lawyers being bottom feeders but as @Caravanfan says, there are many decent lawyers.

Name any subject or group at all and there will be jokes about it. Humor can be a serious weapon, as kings and politicians have known through the ages, but it does not have to be nasty or cruel or humiliating to someone. Many jokes about groups of people are just funny.

I’m old enough to remember and miss ethnic jokes, including ones about my own ethnicity.. Some were mean, but many were good-humored.

When my mother was in her last days, her pastor stood by with our family in the hospital. She told the first God jokes I’d ever heard.

Lawyer jokes probably came along about as soon as the legal profession did, which would be centuries ago.

Jokes about lawyers especially do have a long history. There’s a famous line in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2:

“Let’s kill all the lawyers” is a line from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The full quote is “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.[1] It is among Shakespeare’s most famous lines,[2] as well as one of his most controversial.[3] Shakespeare may be making a joke when character “Dick The Butcher” suggests one of the ways the band of pretenders to the throne can improve the country is to kill all the lawyers. Dick is a rough character, a killer as evil as his name implies,[1] like the other henchmen, and this is his rough solution to his perceived societal problem.[4] The line has been interpreted in different ways: criticism of how lawyers maintain the privilege of the wealthy and powerful; implicit praise of how lawyers stand in the way of violent mobs; and criticism of bureaucracy and perversions of the rule of law.[5]

Source: Wikipedia

^^ And then there’s The Merchant of Venice.

@Jeruba A pound of flesh. I forgot about that story.

Lawyers most likely appear in your life at times of trouble and it can seem they are profiting from your misery like parasites. You can get your revenge by making fun of them.

@janbb Awesome post, thanks. As far back as I can recall, first time I heard about lawyer jokes was in the 80s from some Hollywood movies.

What is the origin of lawyers in hell jokes?

Wishful thinking?
Proper placement?

Funny this gets asked as I watch a Better Call Saul marathon.

Part of the disdain for lawyers is their ethical obligation to represent anyone.

It all began, like everything else, in the beginning…