Poll: 70% of lawyers are unhappy Article 50 has been triggered, compared to 36% of the population

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By Katie King on

Legal profession staying true to its pro-EU ways

On the day the Prime Minister took the plunge and notified the European Union of the United Kingdom’s intention to leave, we asked our Twitter followers what they thought of the news. The answer: not very pleased.

Our poll has revealed 70% of our readers — mostly law students and lawyers — are not happy about Article 50 being triggered. The next most popular answer picked was ‘Unsure’, which totted up 16% of the vote. Only 14% of respondents said they were happy Theresa May had done the deed.

Assuming that those who clicked ‘Happy’ did so because they want to leave the EU and vice versa, this survey seems to show the demographic of lawyer remainers and leavers has not changed much since the referendum.

During the campaign stages, 75% of legal professionals told us they wanted to stay in the EU. Law students were particularly strong in their allegiance to Europe, with 81% vowing to place their cross next to ‘Remain’ when the polls opened on 23 June. This data showed lawyers tended to be Europhiles, and — given today’s news — the almost 300 days that have passed since the referendum don’t seem to have changed that.

It’s also worth comparing the latest poll with non-profession specific data. A poll by Sky News has thrown up very different results to Legal Cheek’s. It found that only 36% of respondents are “sad” about May’s withdrawal notification. Half said they were happy about the news, and 14% were either neutral or did not know how they felt.

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