But judges fared better in new ‘Veracity Index’
New research has revealed the public trusts police officers, priests and hairdressers to tell the truth more than it trusts lawyers.
The 2016 ‘Veracity Index’ questioned more than 1,000 people about their attitudes towards different professions.
These new statistics — produced by market research outfit Ipsos MORI and parenting website Mumsnet — reveal the Great British public believes that lawyers are less likely “to tell the truth” than their counterparts in the police force, priesthood, or down the local salon.
With lawyers winning the trust of just 52% of those surveyed, it seems television newsreaders, civil servants, doctors, teachers and scientists are all perceived to be more trustworthy than those practising law. Nurses top the list as the most trustworthy profession of all, with 93% of respondents revealing they trust nurses to tell the truth.
However it’s not all bad news for lawyers. According to the new data, they are held in higher regard than pollsters, bankers, estate agents, economists and — though we at Legal Cheek can’t quite believe it — journalists. Right down the far end of the index is politicians, trusted by only 15% of those asked.
Perhaps more surprising is that judges scored far higher than lawyers on the index. Posting a trust rating of 81%, those questioned viewed them to be more trustworthy than scientists, though less so than teachers.
It is worth noting, however, that the fieldwork for this survey was completed by 1 November, just a few days before the tabloid press launched an attack on judges post-Brexit High Court judgment. Legal Cheek speculates whether headlines like ‘ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE’ will alter public trust in the judiciary.
2016 Veracity Index
