Take The Lawyer-President Quiz

John Steele at Legal Ethics Forum has an intriguing quiz (note the Michigan connection question) for Presidents Day. Think you know the answers? Email Steele for the chance for glory and a prize: [email protected].

1. Name two presidents who might be judged as "failed president; accomplished lawyer."
2. Name two presidents who might be judged as "great president; not a great lawyer."
3. Which president obtained a patent and had a case load that was nearly one-half debt collection cases?
4. Most sources do not list this person as one of our lawyer-presidents; a few do.
5. Name the lawyer-president who served as the appellate lawyer in the Amistad case dealing with possession of seized slaves and the sitting president-lawyer when that controversial case was decided.
6. He had the greatest legal resume of all the lawyer-presidents.
7. This self-described “country lawyer” read for the law, rarely appeared in court, and handled matters involving real estate, mortgages, and title disputes.
8. He took law classes at Michigan, Yale, and UNC - Chapel Hill and later served as president.

Harvard conferred an honorary LL.D. upon a lawyer-president, although another lawyer-president complained of bestowing such honors “upon a barbarian who could not write a sentence of grammar and could hardly spell his own name.” Name the two lawyer-presidents. 

He self-deprecatingly described his private law practice as, "Unpaid bills a specialty. Briefs on the liquor question furnished free to ladies. Small dogs chloroformed without charge."

Name three schools that can claim that at least two lawyer-presidents took law classes there.

Bonus Question: Which lawyer argued cases before the US Supreme Court and also served as president?