Today is the day our country commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which declared our freedom from Great Britain.

Our office is closed today and tomorrow so we can spend time with our family, but we thought we would share the following fun facts about lawyers to show how from the very beginning, they have played a crucial role in establishing and upholding our freedom:

• 24 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were lawyers.
• Thomas Jefferson, a lawyer, wrote the majority of the Declaration.
• The Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, but wasn't actually signed until nearly a month later.
• By the end of the American Revolution, there was a bar association in each state.
• 35 Delegates to the Constitutional Convention were lawyers or had legal training.
• The first law degree issued in the United States was in 1793.
• Twenty-five U.S. presidents (including Barack Obama) have been lawyers.

Source: “Lawyers and Liberty” published by the Oklahoma Bar Association.