The American Legal Profession
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Description
One facet of the American legal profession that surprises many observers, including American lawyers, is its size. It is big and growing bigger, both absolutely and relative to the American population. In 1970, there were about 350,000 American lawyers. By 1983, that number had increased to 600,000, and in 1992, there were 750,000. Although the American population is also growing, the lawyer population is growing faster. In 1970, the lawyer-to-population ratio was 1/572. It was 1/310 in 1990. By the end of the century, the ratio is expected to drop below 1/275. From 1963 to 1974, the number of law school graduates tripled (from about 9,000 to 27,000) and then increased another 55 percent by 1993, when American law schools awarded 42,000 law degrees. The composition of the profession is also changing because of the increase in women and minorities. This change can be seen clearly when we look at legal education. In 1963, of the nearly 47,000 law students enrolled in the 135 law schools then accredited by the American Bar Association, only 3.7 percent were women. In 1994, when 129,000 students were enrolled at 177 accredited law schools, 43.7 percent of the student body were women. Minority enrollment in American law schools has also advanced. In 1977, 5,300 African-American students were enrolled in American law schools. By 1994, that number increased to 9,680. Corresponding numbers for Hispanic students are 2,531 (1977) and 6,772 (1994), and for Asian and Pacific Island students, 1,382 (1977) and 7,196 (1994).
Source Publication
Fundamentals of American Law
Source Editors/Authors
Alan B. Morrison
Publication Date
1996
Recommended Citation
Gillers, Stephen, "The American Legal Profession" (1996). Faculty Chapters. 1254.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1254
