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July 22, 2005
Where Are The Non-AmLaw 100 Firms?
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 |
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).
Posted by Bruce at July 22, 2005 4:06 PM | TrackBackPosted to Compensation | Cultural Considerations | Finance | Just Plain Interesting | Strategy Printer-friendly version
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