It takes little discernment to conclude that "Adam Smith, Esq." could be more appropriately subtitled "...an inquiry into the economics of [Big] law firms."*  Not only would this conclusion be correct, but since I know for a fact that you, dear readers, are an exceptionally discerning lot, I am telling you nothing you don't know.

Still, the question arises as to how much of the total landscape of law-firm-land I am consciously overlooking.  Today we have an answer.

According to the US Census, in 2003 (most recent statistics available), the total revenue for "taxable" (i.e., not non-profit) law firms was $178.95-billion.   Meanwhile, over at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (the government is not known for its embrace of one-stop-shopping), we learn that about 521,000 lawyers were employed in for-profit law firms (i.e., not government or in-house corporate).**  

And thanks to The American Lawyer, we know that the total revenue of the AmLaw 100 for 2004 was $46.04-billion and that those firms employed a total of 68,186 lawyers.   Now you can see this coming, right?

AmLaw 100 vs. All Law Firms

	AmLaw 100	Non-AmLaw 100 Law Firms
% of lawyers (headcount)	13.1%	86.9%
% of total (private) legal industry revenue	25.7%	74.3%
Average revenue/lawyer/year	$675,200	$293,400

You can thank Craig Williams for setting me loose on this trail.

What do I conclude?  First, that the focus of this blog is not about to change.  Second, that it would be interesting to see an historic time-series of this data.  My educated hunch?  The AmLaw 100's share of total legal-industry revenue is growing, as is their share of lawyer headcount:  But revenue is growing at a faster rate.

---

*The phrase "an inquiry into" is lifted from the full title of Adam Smith's 1776 masterpiece, which is An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations.

**The 521,000 figure does not appear directly on the page I cite, but I derived it from their total full-time lawyer headcount (695,000) combined with their observation that "3 out of 4" lawyers are work in law firms of all sizes (including solo practitioners).