In 2023, approximately ** percent of lawyers in the United States were women. In 2022, the state with the highest employment in that occupation was California, followed by New York and Florida.

How has the number of lawyers in the U.S. changed over time?

Between 2007 and 2022, there was an overall increase in the number of practicing lawyers in the United States. In 2022, the number of lawyers in the United States was up almost *** percent from what it had been a decade ago. Conversely, the number of law school graduates has steadily declined since 2013. This suggests that although the demand for lawyers has continued to grow in the United States, there have been fewer graduates being produced by law schools in the country.

The U.S. legal services market

The largest segment of the U.S. legal services market in 2022 was spending on outside legal counsel. This segment contributed significantly more to the market than corporate legal departments for companies with over *********** U.S. dollars in revenue. In 2017, the United States held almost half of the global legal market.

The total number of lawyers in the United States has seen a steady increase over the last few years. In 2024, there were approximately **** million active lawyers. This total was slightly lower when compared to the previous year, and not much above the 2015 figure of *** million. Lawyers in the U.S. Unlike many other common law countries, the United States does not differentiate between lawyers who plead in court and those who do not. For example, in the United Kingdom the former are titled barristers and the latter solicitors. In the United States, however, terms such as lawyer and attorney can refer to either profession. Oversupply in the U.S. legal industry Despite continuous growth of the U.S. legal services market since the great recession, there is an oversupply of lawyers relative to the number of jobs. An overproduction of law graduates is one cause of this oversupply; consequently the number of law graduates shrunk in recent years. Increasing automation is another cause, with around half of law firms admitting to replacing human resources with technology in the last two years.

This statistic shows women lawyers' weekly salary as a percentage of male lawyers' salary from 2004 to 2020. In 2018, women lawyers' weekly salary amounted to approximately ** percent of that earned by male lawyers.

In 2024, there were a record number of women working as lawyers in the United States, representing **% of the total workforce. This was an increase of ** percent when compared to 2010.

Asian-Americans composed almost ** percent of all the attorneys working for the Berry, Appleman and Leiden attorney office in the United States in 2021, making it the law firm with the highest percentage of this demographic group in the country.

African-Americans composed about **** percent of the attorney staff working for the U.S. law firm, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in 2021. In this manner, the aforementioned law firm employed the highest percentage of this demographic group in the United States during that year.

In 2023, lawyers in the United States charged the highest average hourly rates in ************************* The average adjusted hourly rate of a law firm in Washington D.C. was *** U.S. dollars, whereas the lowest average hourly rate for a lawyer was in West Virginia. Between 2020 and 2023 the highest average hourly rate has remained in ************************. The lowest average hourly rate for a lawyer in 2020 and 2021 was also in *************.

This statistic depicts the methods uses by consumers in the United States find a lawyer in 2019. During the survey, ** percent of respondents stated they used an online search engine to find a lawyer in the U.S.

This statistic depicts the leading reasons consumers in the United States hired a lawyer in 2018. During the survey, 42 percent of respondents stated they hired a lawyer as they didn't think they could handle their issue without one.

In 2023, law firms in Nebraska had the highest professional utilization rate in the United States. In that year, non-lawyers in Colorado had the highest utilization rate amongst legal support staff and administrative staff. The utilization rate shows the difference between the number of billable hours worked and the number of hours in an eight-hour work day.

In 2023, the majority of attorneys working for Kirkland & Ellis in the United States were white. The next most represented race were Asians, with almost *** fewer attorneys in the firm’s workforce. The race with the least amount of representation were native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, with a total of ***** people from this race working as an attorney for Kirkland & Ellis in 2023. Kirkland & Ellis remained one of the largest law firms in the world going by both number of attorneys and revenue. Specialized law services Since the founding of the law firm in 1909, Kirkland & Ellis have prided themselves on personalized services to its clients and dealing with intellectual property matters, restructurings, white collar and government disputes, and several other areas of BigLaw. Lawyers working for Kirkland & Ellis are therefore allowed to charge premium prices for their services, making their lawyers some of the most well paid in the United States. Notable alumni Kirkland & Ellis have had several significant public figures working for their law firm including William Barr who was the United States Attorney General under Donald Trump, and Brett Kavanaugh who was controversially appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, splitting American public opinion as to whether he was an appropriate figure to be representing the United States on a juridical level.

The number of law graduates in the United States steadily ******** between 2013 and 2019. Between 2020 and 2022 there was a slight ******** in the number of graduates, however this number fell again in 2023. In 2024, this figure increased again and reached almost ******. The share of unemployed law graduates in the United States followed approximately the same trend: the percentage of law students who did not find a job after graduating in 2019 was roughly half the share recorded in 2013, before increasing again in 2020, and falling in the following years. Career opportunities Law school graduates can undertake many career paths. Legal occupations can be primarily distinguished between lawyers, judges, and judicial workers on one hand, and legal support workers, such as paralegals and legal assistants, on the other. In 2024, the outright majority of professionals employed in legal occupations in the United States were lawyers. According to the same study, lawyers were also the highest-paid workers in the sector, followed by judges and magistrates. Leading law firms The United States are home to some of the most renowned law firms in the world. In 2024, Wachtell was the leading law firms in the country in terms of revenue per lawyer, as Kirkland & Ellis generated the highest gross revenue. Baker Mckenzie was the company in the United States with the highest number of lawyers employed. In fact, the multinational firm headquartered in Chicago employed roughly 500 more lawyers than DLA Piper, who were second in the rankings.

In 2023, roughly ** percent of lawyers sampled in the United States stated that they did not yet know enough about AI to form an opinion whether they should use it in their work or not. This was the *** answer given by those surveyed. The ***** popular answer were lawyers who were seriously considering purchasing AI-based technology tools, whereas those currently using AI totaled almost ** percent of respondents.

In 2021, the U.S. law firm Cole, Scott & Kissane, was the law firm that employed the highest percentage of Hispanic attorneys. As it seems, this demographic group composed about ** percent of the firm's attorney staff in 2021.

In 2023, the state with the highest number of lawyers in the Unites States was California with roughly ****** lawyers. The state with the second most numerous amount of lawyers was New York, with ***** lawyers fewer than California.

This statistic illustrates the leading billing methods used by attorneys in the United States in 2020. During the survey, ** percent of respondents reported using an hourly rate as their billing method.

In 2024, there were approximately 463,600 law firms in the United States. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of law firms grew by approximately 1.8 percent per year on average.

In 2023, medical malpractice law firms had the highest collection rate in the United States. In that year, on average, almost all bills were collected by firms specializing in medical malpractice law. The collection rate is measured as the amount that a firm collects compared to the amount invoiced.

This statistic depicts the leading reasons that lawyers in the United States discount their rates in 2018. During the survey, 71 percent of respondents stated they discount their rates due to empathy for the client.

The number of law graduates in the United States steadily declined between 2013 and 2019. Between 2020 and 2022 there was a slight increase in the number of graduates, however this number fell again in 2023. The share of unemployed law graduates in the United States followed approximately the same trend: the percentage of law students who did not find a job after graduating in 2019 was roughly half the share recorded in 2013, before increasing again in 2020, and falling in the following years. Career opportunities Law school graduates can undertake many career paths. Legal occupations can be primarily distinguished between lawyers, judges, and judicial workers on one hand, and legal support workers, such as paralegals and legal assistants, on the other. In 2023, the outright majority of professionals employed in legal occupations in the United States were lawyers. According to the same study, lawyers were also the highest-paid workers in the sector, followed by judges and magistrates. Leading law firms The United States are home to some of the most renowned law firms in the world. In 2022, Wachtell was the leading law firms in the country in terms of revenue per lawyer, as Kirkland & Ellis generated the highest gross revenue. Baker Mckenzie was the company in the United States with the highest number of lawyers employed. In fact, the multinational firm headquartered in Chicago employed roughly 500 more lawyers than DLA Piper, who were second in the rankings.