There are 1.3 Million Lawyers in the US

There are 1.33 million lawyers in the United States, a number that has remained relatively stable in recent years.

That works out to one lawyer for every 300 people.

At the same time, the number of law graduates shrunk by around a quarter between 2013 and 2017.

Those are some findings from this report from Statista.

“Despite the number of lawyers in the US slowing somewhat, there are one and a third million of them and what they now need to face is that they are a changing profession,” according to LawFuel.

Dealing with Difficult Clients can be a Nightmare! If you want to sleep better at night, join the Alta Pro Risk Purchasing Group for our upcoming webinar entitled: Ethics in 3D: Difficult Clients, Dabbling, and Documentation. This webinar will feature James Bell, a noted expert in Lawyer Ethics and will cover the dangers of dabbling in risky areas, the importance of documentation, tricks for dealing with difficult clients, and the magic power of the phrase “Don’t Do It!” James has been recognized in the Best Lawyers of America and has been honored as an Indiana Super Lawyer. He was 2018 President of the Indiana Bar Association, and he even has a channel on Youtube focusing on ethical issues facing lawyers. This webinar will provide 1 hour of Ethics credit, so don’t miss this opportunity to get free CLE. July 7, 2021 12:00 PM Central (US and Canada). Register here.

Here are some other takeaways from the Statista report, according to LawFuel:

• In 2019, almost 34,000 students graduated from law school in the United States. That was down from 34,221 graduates in 2018.
• For years the number of lawyers in the US was rising. That trend ended in 2008, with the global financial crisis, technology and increased legal competition.
• The increasing advance of technology, principally artificial intelligence software and ‘robot’ workers, means that the repetitive work in law offices will be easily and efficiently handled, leaving the sophisticated legal work for the lawyers. This trend is only going to accelerate.
• Half of law firms plan to replace some of their human legal resources with technology.
• The law continues to be a largely male-dominated domain, despite increasing efforts by law firms to increase their gender mix and general diversity. Fewer than a quarter of all partners in US law firms are women and less than 20 per cent of managing partners are women.
• Booming profits recorded by major law firms show that it is a highly profitable profession for many.

Source: LawFuel

If you practice in Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana or Michigan, you can stay on top of ethics and risk management news by being a member of Alta Pro Lawyers RPG. You’ll get access to free webinars, the Pro Practice Playbook, Reminger ProLink, Ask the Risk Pro and more. Here’s how to join.