Lawyers

Industry Information about Lawyers
The legal service industry is the second largest professional service industry in the nation to health services. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the industry collected more than $132 billion in annual revenue. That is more than five times the annual revenue gathered by advertising firms and close to three times the revenue collected by accounting firms. The legal services industry employed more than one million people over time, with almost half of the workforce consisting of practicing attorneys.

Recent Trends in Lawyers
According to the National Law Journal's annual survey of the 250 largest law firms in the country, the firms grew just 3.7 percent from October 2001 to September 2002; that’s down from an 8.2 percent increase the previous year. The economic recession of the early 2000s slowed the growth of the legal industry; however it did not stop it completely. Multi-lawyer practices adapted to the slow economy mainly by cutting back on the number of vested partners in firms. Rather than stepping into a firm right out of law school, young lawyers were finding the traditional process by which they would come to share in the wealth of the firm's business thwarted.  Los Angeles lawyers in the industry took flight when the world's largest law firm, Clifford Chance from the United Kingdom, extended its presence in the United States by attaining a group of California firms, adding to its New York operations. Even still, lawyers in Philadelphia describe the industry as having many large U.S. law firms looking overseas to international opportunities to maintain competitiveness.

Businesses in This Category
This industry consists of establishments primarily engaged in offering legal advice or services. These establishments include lawyers, counselors at law, law offices, legal aid services, legal services, and more.