The US Legal Market In Numbers
The United States is one of the largest legal markets in the world so we thought it would be interesting to analyze some US attorney data. Using our attorney database, Pirical Legal Professionals, we looked at the number of attorneys in the US, where they're located, what practice areas they work in and which US law firms are the largest.
How many attorneys are there in the US & where are they located?
Unsurprisingly, the majority of attorneys at AM Law 200 firms in the United States are located in New York City (25k).
Washington DC (15k), Chicago (8k), Los Angeles (8k), Boston (5k) and San Francisco (5k) make up the next most populous locations. In fact, these six cities account for over 50% of the entire AM Law 200 attorney population.
The high density of attorneys in New York City and these other major cities - as a proportion of the national total - still doesn't represent as much of a dominant force as other countries’ top legal hubs. For example, London alone accounts for over 50% of the lawyers in the United Kingdom.
How many attorneys work in Corporate, Finance or Dispute Resolution law?
Each of the major six legal cities in the United States has its own strengths, but by far & away the largest practice groups across all are Dispute Resolution & Litigation and Corporate.
New York City is indisputably the home of Banking & Finance in the USA, while Washington DC has a disproportionately high representation of Dispute Resolution & Litigation groups.
Which are the largest law firms in the USA?
We last looked at this data in a blog article in 2020. Since then, Kirkland & Ellis have retained the top spot, while Lewis Brisbois have snatched 2nd place from Greenberg Traurig. Holland & Knight and Dentons make up the rest of the top 5 US law firms by Partner count.
As with our 2020 analysis, Latham & Watkins continue to have a relatively modest number of partners for the amount of revenue the firm generates. Latham ranked 2nd in terms of revenue in 2022, despite having over 500 fewer partners than the top revenue holders, Kirkland & Ellis.
Looking for legal sector data?
We sourced all the above insights using Pirical Legal Professionals, the leading attorney database of 500,000+ legal professionals across 130+ countries. Better understand the legal market with stats & beautifully designed charts, view complete market maps in seconds and monitor which law firms are thriving or which are churning.
We'd love to show you how Pirical Legal Professionals can transform your legal recruitment efforts.
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