About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

62 Ind. L.J. 151 (1986-1987)
The Legal Profession Today

handle is hein.journals/indana62 and id is 175 raw text is: DEDICATORY ADDRESS The Legal Profession Today CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST During the past generation the manner in which law is practiced in the United States has changed dramatically in more than one way. Within the last fifteen years alone, for example, the number of lawyers in the United States has more than doubled, from fewer than 350,000 in 1970 to nearly 700,000 today. This increase is out of all proportion to the increase in the nation's population: in 1960 there was one lawyer for every 627 people in the country, whereas today there is one lawyer for every 354 people. Lawyers on the average today make considerably more money, even after adjustment for inflation, than they did twenty-five years ago. A recent American Bar Association Journal survey reports that the median income of lawyers responding to the survey is roughly $65,000.! I suspect that the percentage of gross national product going to pay for legal services has likewise increased; current estimates suggest that law firms bill close to $40 billion a year. The latest headline-making development in this area is the decision of several leading New York law firms to substantially increase their associates' compensation, and to pay additional bonuses to those who had the misfortune to work for government lawyers' salaries as law clerks for one or two years. The structure of the firms which engage in the practice of law has also changed dramatically. Today, the median law firm size is eight lawyers, and nearly one-quarter of the lawyers work in law firms that billed between $1 and $3 million in 1985.2 The number of firms with one hundred or more lawyers has increased from only four in 1960 to well over two hundred today. Indeed, in just the last five years, the number of firms with over two hundred lawyers has increased nearly four-fold, to about seventy. According to the recently adopted report of the American Bar Association Commission on Professionalism, it is not uncommon to find firms of over three hundred lawyers, with offices not only in many states but in foreign countries as well.3 Twenty-five years ago, firms of that size and geographic diversity were simply unknown. Young associates in large law firms today apparently work much harder, 1. 72 A.B.A. J. 47, 50 (Sept. 1, 1986). 2. Id. at 47, 52. 3. See THE LAWYER'S ALMANAC 1986, at 2-5, 76-78 (1986).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most