“What do you throw to a drowning lawyer? His partners” (lawyer joke)

The drowning lawyer (or lawyers) joke has been one of the most popular of lawyer jokes. THe following joke has been cited in print since at least 1994:
 
Q: What do you throw to a drowning lawyer?
A: His partners!
 
Another drowning lawyer joke is, “How do you save a drowning lawyer? Take your foot off his head.”
     
 
Google Groups: rec.humor
Request: Lawyer jokes file
Dan Sobel
12/27/94
(...)
Q: What do you throw to a drowning lawyer?
A: His partners!
   
Google Groups: rec.humor
Lawyer jokes wanted
Bobby H
2/17/96
(...)
Q. What do you throw a drowning lawyer?
A. His partners.
 
Google Books
A Collection of Jokes and Funny Stories
By Marvin Lebman
Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing
2004
Pg. 280:
What do you throw to a drowning lawyer? His partners.
 
Google Books
The World’s Funniest Lawyer Jokes:
A Caseload of Jurisprudential Jest
By Steven D. Price
New York, NY: SKyhorse Publishing
2011
Pg. ?:
Q: What do you throwtoa drowning lawyer?
A: His partners.
 
Google Books
The Good Wife and Philosophy:
Temptations of Saint Alicia
Edited by Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray and Robert Arp
Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing Company
2013
Pg. ?:
Q: What do you throw to a drowning lawyer?
A: His partners.
 
Twitter
Reid Bryce Robbins
‏@reidbryce
Q: What do you throw to a drowning lawyer?
A: His partners.
3:50 PM - 5 Aug 2014