Why are there so many Jewish lawyers?

At the beginning of Devarim, Moshe, Moses reviews the history of the Israelites' experience in the wilderness,

beginning with the appointment of leaders throughout the people, heads of hundreds, of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

He continues, and I charged your judges at that time.

Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites

or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you. Do not show partiality in judgment.

Here, both small and great alike. Don't be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to

God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. So at the outset of the book in which

he summarized the entire history of Israel and its destiny as the Holy People, Moses,

already gave priority to the administration of justice, something he would

memorably summarise in a later chapter in the words Tzedik, Tzedik, Tiredov, justice,

justice shall you pursue. The words for justice, Tzedek and Mishpat, are repeated, recurring

themes of the book.

The root SEDECC appears 18 times in Devarim, the route Shafat, Mishpat, justice judging 48 times.

Justice has seemed throughout the generations to lie at the very heart of Jewish faith.

Albert Einstein memorably spoke of the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake,

an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence.

These are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my lucky stars

that I belong to it.

In the course of a television program I made for the BBC,

I asked Hazel Cosgrove, the first woman to be appointed as a judge in Scotland, and an active

member of the Edinburgh Jewish community, what had led her to choose law as a career. And she replied

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