The number of US lawyers is robust and growing steadily as the economy continues to boom. It makes one wonder what the oft-reported lawyer shortage is all about. States are licensing non-lawyer “legal technicians”, but there are plenty of graduates coming out of US law schools now that the 2008 downturn has been overcome. Demand is high for lateral moves, as in-house counsel job openings are available in record numbers.
“The number of active lawyers in the United States increased 14.5% over the last decade, according to statistics released Friday by the ABA. The total number of active lawyers at the beginning of 2019 was 1,352,027, up from 1,180,386 in 2009, according to the ABA’s National Lawyer Population Survey…Sixty-four percent of active lawyers are men and 36% are women, according to 44 states that provided the data. In 2009, when 40 states provided data, 69% of lawyers were men and 31% were women.”
Read: Lawyer count in US increases 14.5% from decade ago; these 5 states have highest number of active attorneys at ABA Journal – Daily News