Share of lawyers in the U.S. 2020, by gender

In 2020, 37.4 percent of lawyers in the United States were women. As of May 2020, 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 2020, there was an overall increase in the number of practicing lawyers in the United States. In 2020, the number of lawyers in the U.S. was up almost ten percent from what it had been a decade ago. Conversely, the number of law school graduates has steadily declined since 2013, so although the demand for lawyers is continually growing in the U.S., fewer and fewer graduates are 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 2020 was spending on outside legal counsel. This segment contributed significantly more to the market than corporate legal departments for companies with over one billion U.S. dollars in revenue. In 2017, the United States held almost half of the global legal market.