“Why did God make snakes just before lawyers?”/“To practice.” (lawyer joke)

Lawyers are sometimes compared to snakes, as in this lawyer joke:
 
Q: Why did God make snakes just before lawyers?
A: To practice.
 
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1998.
 
     
Google Groups: alt.tasteless.jokes
More Lawyer Jokes
Girdle Popper
3/21/98
(...)
- Why did God make snakes just before lawyers?
To practice.
 
Google Groups: uk.people.fathers
Lawyer Jokes
Dave Ellison
11/12/99
(...)
Why did God make snakes just before lawyers?
To practice.
 
Google Books
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Health Fair
By Fred Neil
College Station, TX: VirtualBookworm
2002
Pg. 100:
Why did God make snakes just before lawyers?
To practice.
 
Google Books
A Treasury of Gross Jokes
By Julius Alvin
New York, NY: Kensington Books
2003
Pg. 48:
Why did God create snakes just before lawyers?
To practice.
 
Google Books
The Last Good Paradise:
A Novel
By Tatjana Soli
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
2015
Pg. 64:
Q: Why did God make snakes just before lawyers? A: To practice.
 
Twitter
Bob Kostic
‏@causticbob
Q: Why did God make snakes just before lawyers?
A: To practice.
3:17 PM - 7 Nov 2015