A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political and social authority, and deliver to engage in the practice of law. The primary service provided by a law firm is to advise clients Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods and services generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary (individuals or corporations A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business) about their legal rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement — i.e. rights are normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. The concept of rights is often fundamental to civilized societies, and it is of vital importance in such disciplines and responsibilities An obligation is a requirement to take some course of action, whether legal or moral. There are also obligations in other normative contexts, such as obligations of etiquette, social obligations, and possibly in terms of politics, where obligations are requirements which must be fulfilled. These are generally legal obligations, which can incur a, and to represent their clients in civil Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim. For instance, if a car crash victim claims damages against the driver for loss or injury sustained in an accident, this will be a civil law case or criminal cases Criminal law, or penal law, is the bodies of rules with the potential for severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision , or fines. There are some archetypal crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden, business transactions and other matters in which legal assistance is sought.

Arrangements

Law firms are organized in a variety of ways, depending on the jurisdiction in which the firm practices. Common arrangements include:

• Sole proprietorship A sole proprietorship also known as a sole trader, or simply proprietorship is a type of business entity which is owned and run by one individual and where there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business. All profits and all losses accrue to the owner . All assets of the business are owned by the proprietor and all debts of the, in which the attorney is the law firm and is responsible for all profit, loss and liability;
• General partnership Partnerships have certain default characteristics relating to both the relationship between the individual partners and (b) the relationship between the partnership and the outside world. The former can generally be overridden by agreement between the partners, whereas the latter generally cannot be, in which all of the attorneys in the firm equally share ownership and liability;
• Professional corporations A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business, which issue stock to the attorneys in a fashion similar to that of a business corporation;
• Limited liability company A limited liability company or, more rarely, a company with limited liability (WLL), is a flexible form of business enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of business company, in the law of the vast majority of United States jurisdictions, that provides limited liability to its owners. Often, in which the attorney-owners are called "members" but are not directly liable to third party creditors of the law firm;
• Professional association A professional association is a non-profit organization seeking to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest, which operates similarly to a professional corporation or a limited liability company;
• Limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This is an important difference from that of a (LLP), in which the attorney-owners are partners with one another, but no partner is liable to any creditor of the law firm nor is any partner liable for any negligence on the part of any other partner. The LLP is taxed as a partnership while enjoying the liability protection of a corporation.

Restrictions on ownership interests

In many countries, including the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language and the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land, there is a rule that only lawyers may have an ownership interest in, or be managers of, a law firm. Thus, law firms cannot quickly raise capital In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital are factors of production used to create goods or services that are not themselves significantly consumed in the production process. Capital goods may be acquired with money or financial capital through initial public offerings An initial public offering referred to simply as an "offering" or "flotation," is when a company (called the issuer) issues common stock or shares to the public for the first time. They are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately-owned companies looking to on the stock market, like most corporations A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. In the United States this rule is promulgated by the American Bar Association The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal and is adhered to in all U.S. jurisdictions, except the District of Columbia.^[1] The U.K. has a similar rule, but in recent years there have been discussions about relaxing it in order to allow law firms to expand more rapidly.

The rule was created in order to prevent conflicts of interest A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other. In the adversarial system The adversarial system of law is the system of law that relies on the contest between each advocate representing his or her party's positions and involves an impartial person or group of people, usually a jury or judge, trying to determine the truth of the case. As opposed to that, the inquisitorial system has a judge (or a group of judges who of justice, a lawyer has a duty to be a zealous and loyal advocate on behalf of the client, and also has a duty to not bill the client excessively. Also, as an officer of the court, a lawyer has a duty to be honest and to not file frivolous cases or raise frivolous defenses. A lawyer working as a shareholder-employee of a publicly traded law firm would be strongly tempted to evaluate decisions in terms of their effect on the stock price and the shareholders, which would directly conflict with the lawyer's duties to the client and to the courts.

Structure and promotion

Partnership

Law firms are typically organized around partners A partnership is a type of business entity in which partners share with each other the profits or losses of the business. Partnerships are often favored over corporations for taxation purposes, as the partnership structure does not generally incur a tax on profits before they are distributed to the partners (i.e. there is no dividend tax levied), who are joint owners and business directors A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. The body sometimes has a different name, such as board of trustees, board of governors, board of managers, or executive board. It is often simply referred to as "the board." of the legal operation; associates An associate attorney is a lower-level employee of a traditional law firm who does not hold an ownership interest as a partner, who are employees Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how of the firm with the prospect of becoming partners; and a variety of staff employees, providing paralegal Paralegal is a term that is used in most jurisdictions to describe a non-lawyer who assists lawyers in their legal work. This is true in the United States and many other countries. However, in Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, giving paralegals an independent status in this jurisdiction. Only in very rare, clerical, and other support services. An associate may have to wait as long as 9 years before the decision is made as to whether the associate "makes partner." Many law firms have an "up or out policy" (pioneered around 1900 by partner Paul Cravath of Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is a prominent American law firm based in New York City, with an additional office in London. The second oldest firm in the country, Cravath was founded in 1819 and consistently ranks first among the world's most prestigious law firms according to a survey of partners^[2]): associates who do not make partner are required to resign, either to join another firm, go it alone as a solo practitioner, go to work in-house in a corporate legal department, or change professions A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain (burnout Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Research indicates general practitioners have the highest proportion of burnout cases . Burnout is not a recognized disorder in the DSM although it is recognized in the ICD-10 rates are very high in law^[3]).

Making partner is very prestigious at large or midsized firms, due to the competition that naturally results from higher associate-to-partner ratios. Such firms may take out advertisements in legal newspapers to announce who has made partner. Traditionally, partners shared directly in the profits of the firm, after paying salaried employees, the landlord, and the usual costs of furniture, office supplies, and books for the law library A law library is a library designed to assist law students, attorneys, judges, and their law clerks in finding the legal resources necessary to correctly determine the state of the law (or a database subscription). Partners in a limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This is an important difference from that of a can largely operate autonomously with regards to cultivating new business and servicing existing clients within their book of business Book of business is common parlance in the legal services sector and refers to the collection of clients that a lawyer has assembled throughout his or her career. It is often used to refer to the valuation of such client following. However, many large law firms have moved to a two-tiered partnership model, with equity and non-equity partners An equity partner is a partner in a partnership who is a part owner of the business, and is entitled to a proportion of the distributable profits of the partnership. The term is used in contra-distinction to a salaried partner who are paid a salary, but do not have any underlying ownership interest in the business and will not share in the. Equity partners are considered to have ownership stakes in the firm, and share in the profits (and losses) of the firm. Non-equity partners are generally paid a fixed salary (albeit much higher than associates), and they are often granted certain limited voting rights with respect to firm operations. The world's oldest continuing partnership is that of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, founded in 1792 in New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the.

Termination of one's partnership

It is rare for a partner to be forced out by fellow partners, although that can happen if the partner commits a crime or malpractice, experiences disruptive mental illness, or is not contributing to the firm's overall profitability. However, some large firms have written into their partnership agreement a forced retirement age Mandatory retirement is the age at which persons who hold certain jobs or offices are required by statute to step down, or retire. Typically, mandatory retirement is justified by the argument that certain occupations are either too dangerous or require high levels of physical and mental skill (airline pilots). However, since the age at which for partners. This age can be anywhere from age 65 on up. In contrast, most corporate executives are at much higher risk of being fired, even when the underlying cause is not directly their fault, such as a drop in the company's stock price.

"Of counsel" role

In the United States, Canada and Japan, many large and midsize firms have attorneys with the job title of "counsel", "special counsel" or "of counsel Of counsel is often the title of an attorney who is employed by a law firm or an organization, but is not an associate or a partner. According to ABA Formal Opinion 90-357 the term "of counsel" is to describe "a close, regular, personal relationship."." As the Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts has noted, the title has acquired several related but distinct definitions which do not easily fit into the traditional partner-associate structure.^[4] These attorneys are employees of the firm like associates, although some firms have an independent contractor An independent contractor is a natural person, business, or corporation that provides goods or services to another entity under terms specified in a contract or within a verbal agreement. Unlike an employee, an independent contractor does not work regularly for an employer but works as and when required, during which time she or he may be subject relationship with their of counsel. But unlike associates, and more like partners, they generally have their own clients, manage their own cases, and supervise associates. These relationships are structured to allow more senior attorneys share in the resources and "brand name" of the firm without being a part of management or profit sharing decisions. The title is often seen among former associates who do not make partner, or who are laterally recruited to other firms, or who work as in-house counsel and then return to the big firm environment. At some firms, the title "of counsel" is given to retired partners who maintain ties to the firm. Sometimes "of counsel" refers to senior or experienced attorneys, such as foreign legal consultants with experience in international law and practice and their own clients. They are hired as independent contractors by large firms as a special arrangement, which may lead to profitable results for the partnership. In these situations "of counsel" could be considered to be a transitional status in the firm.

Mergers and acquisitions between law firms

Mergers, acquisitions, division and reorganizations occur between law firms as in other businesses. The specific books of business and specialization of attorneys as well as the professional ethical strictures surrounding conflict of interest can lead to firms splitting up to pursue different clients or practices, or merging or recruiting experienced attorneys to acquire new clients or practice areas. Results often vary between firms experiencing such transitions. Firms that gain new practice areas or departments through recruiting or mergers that are more complex and demanding (and typically more profitable) may see the focus, organization and resources of the firm shift dramatically towards those new departments. Conversely, firms may be merged among experienced attorneys as partners for purposes of shared financing and resources, while the different departments and practice areas within the new firm retain a significant degree of autonomy.

Size

Law firms range widely in size. The smallest law firms are sole practitioners (lawyers practicing alone), who form the vast majority of lawyers in nearly all countries.^[5]

Smaller firms tend to focus on particular specialties of the law (e.g. patent law A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state (national government) to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention, labor law Labour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees. In Canada, employment laws related to unionized workplaces are differentiated, tax law Tax law is the codified system of laws that describes government levies on economic transactions, commonly called taxes, criminal defense, personal injury); larger firms may be composed of several specialized practice groups, allowing the firm to diversify their client base and market, and to offer a variety of services to their clients.^[6]

Large law firms usually have separate litigation and transactional departments. The transactional department advises clients and handles transactional legal work, such as drafting contracts, handling necessary legal applications and filings, and evaluating and ensuring compliance with relevant law; while the litigation department represents clients in court and handle necessary matters (such as discovery and motions filed with the court) throughout the process of litigation.

Anglo-American development

First multi-lawyer law firms

The United States pioneered the concept of the large law firm in the sense of a business entity consisting of more than one lawyer. The first law firms with two or more lawyers appeared in the U.S. just prior to the American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast (1861–1865).^[7] The idea gradually spread across the Atlantic to England, although "English solicitors remained a corps of solo practitioners or very small partnerships until after World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·."^[8] Today, the United States (and the United Kingdom) have many small firms (2 to 50 lawyers) and midsize firms (50 to 200 lawyers).^[9]

Boutique law firms

Lawyers in small cities and towns may still have old-fashioned general practices, but most urban lawyers tend to be highly specialized due to the overwhelming complexity of the law today.^[10] Thus, some small firms in the cities specialize in practicing only one kind of law (like employment Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how, antitrust Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, are laws that promote or maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct, intellectual property Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which property rights are recognised--and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries, or telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of messages, over significant distances, for the purpose of communication. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as smoke, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, or sent by loud whistles, for) and are called boutique law firms A boutique law firm is a collection of attorneys typically organized in a limited liability partnership or professional corporation specializing in a niche area of law practice. While a general practice law firm includes a variety of unrelated practice areas within a single firm, a boutique firm specializes in one or a select few practice areas.^[11]

"Megafirms" or Biglaw

The largest law firms have more than 1,000 lawyers. These firms, often colloquially called "megafirms" or "biglaw", generally have offices on several continents, bill up to US$750 per hour or higher, and have a high ratio of support staff per attorney.^[12][13] Because of the localized and regional nature of firms, the relative size of a firm varies.^[14]

"Full service" firms

The largest firms like to call themselves "full-service" firms because they have departments specializing in every type of legal work that pays well, which in the U.S. usually means mergers and acquisitions The phrase mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling and combining of different companies that can aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly without having to create another business entity transactions^[15], banking, and certain types of high-stakes corporate litigation. These firms rarely do plaintiffs' personal injury work. However the largest law firms are not very large compared to other major businesses (or even other professional services firms). In 2008, the largest law firm in the world was the British firm Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is a British law firm with its principal office at Canary Wharf in London. It is one of the UK's "Magic Circle" of leading law firms, which had revenue of over US$2 billion. This can be compared with $404 billion for the world's largest firm by turnover Exxon Mobil and $28 billion for the largest professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Worldwide

The largest law firms in the world are based primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. The American system of licensing attorneys on a state-by-state basis, the tradition of having a headquarters in a single U.S. state and a close focus on profits per partner (as opposed to sheer scale) has to date limited the size of most American law firms. Thus, whilst the most profitable law firms in the world remain in New York, four of the six largest firms in the world are based in London in the United Kingdom^[16]. But the huge size of the United States results in a larger number of large firms overall — a 2003 survey found that the United States alone had 901 law firms with more than 50 lawyers, while there were only 58 such firms in Canada, 44 in Great Britain, 14 in France, and 9 in Germany.^[17] There is an increasing tendency towards globalisation of law firms.

Due to their huge size, the U.S. and UK-based law firms are the most prestigious and powerful in the world, and dominate the international market for legal services. A 2007 paper noted that firms from other countries merely pick over their leftovers: "[M]uch of the competition is relatively orderly whereby predominantly Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian firms compete for business not required by English or American law firms."^[18]

Recession

With the US recession, in 2008 and 2009, many US law firms have downsized their staffs considerably, and some have closed. The Denver Post reported that major law firms have cut more than 10,000 jobs nationwide in recent months.^[19] On February 12, 2009, Bloomberg reported that 700 jobs were cut that one day at law firms across the country.^[20] Among the firms closed included Heller Ehrman, a San Francisco-based firm established in 1890.^[21] And firms cutting positions included Baker & McKenzie cut 124 attorney and staff positions.^[22]DLA Piper cut 121 attorneys and staff.^[23] Hinshaw & Culbertson eliminated 28 attorneys and staff.^[24] Law firm layoffs have become so common that American Lawyer produces an ongoing and growing “Layoff List” of the 112+ law firms nationwide that have cut jobs in the past year.^[25]

Salaries

United States

Salaries typically depend on firm size (small-firm salaries vary widely and are not often publicly available). In 2006, median salaries of new graduates ranged from US$50,000 per year in small firms (2 to 10 attorneys) to US$160,000 per year in very large firms (more than 501 attorneys)^[26].

According to alreadybored.com, many large firms in major markets such as New York City,^[27] Los Angeles,^[28] Washington DC,^[29] Boston^[30] and Chicago^[31] compensate new associates using the following pay scale:

Other markets such as Texas^[32] start at US$160,000, but the annual increases are much smaller than the above scale.

With a few exceptions, markets such as Atlanta,^[33] Philadelphia,^[34] New Jersey,^[35] Florida,^[36] Denver,^[37] and Seattle^[38] generally start at US$35,000-US$50,000 for small law firms to US$130,000 or US$145,000 for large law firms.

With a few exceptions, most other U.S. markets start within US$20,000 to US$100,000.

As a result of the current recession, many firms froze salaries (no annual salary increases in January 2009), reverted back to the early 2007 pay scale shown below, and/or cut salaries.^[39]

NYC bonuses (the highest in the U.S.) in 2007 were as follows:^[40]

In 2008, several firms reverted back to the 2006 bonus structure (e.g., no special bonus) or creating a new scale as shown below.^[41]

Larger markets outside NYC typically match the base bonus without the special bonus. Smaller markets and/or smaller firms pay $5K to $20K bonuses, if any at all.^[42]

Some prominent law firms, like Goodwin Procter and Paul Hastings, give generous signing bonuses (e.g., $20k^[43][44]) to incoming first-year associates who hold JD/MBA degrees.

Location

Most law firms are located in office buildings of various sizes, ranging from modest one-story buildings (e.g. SLC^[45]) to some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world (though only in 2004, Paul Hastings was the first firm to put its name on a skyscraper). Some solo practitioners practice out of their homes or in offices built as special additions to their homes.

Because their "work product" is often intangible, or at least conceptually difficult for clients to grasp, large corporate firms are notorious for using jaw-dropping interior design (huge amount of floor space and fantastic views) as a "shock and awe" tactic to impress prospective clients and intimidate opposing counsel. Other firms will find more modest office space, depending on the nature of the practice.

In late 2001, it was widely publicized that one personal injury plaintiffs' firm in the state of New York has been experimenting with bus-sized "mobile law offices."^[46] The firm insists that it does not "chase ambulances". It claims that a law office on wheels is more convenient for personal injury plaintiffs, who are often recovering from severe injuries and thus find it difficult to travel far from their homes for an intake interview.

Rankings

As legal practice is adversarial, law firm rankings are widely relied on by prospective associates, lateral hires and legal clients. Substantive rankings typically cover practice areas such as The American Lawyer's Corporate Scorecard ^[47] and Top IP Firms. Work place rankings are directed toward lawyers or law students, and cover such topics as quality of life, hours, family friendliness and salaries ^[48]. Finally, statistical rankings generally cover profit-related data such as profits per partner and revenue per lawyer ^[49].

In an October 2007 press conference reported in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the law student group Building a Better Legal Profession released its first annual ranking of top law firms by average billable hours, pro bono participation, and demographic diversity.^[50][51] Most notably, the report ranked the percentages of women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and gays & lesbians at America's top law firms. The group has sent the information to top law schools around the country, encouraging students to take this demographic data into account when choosing where to work after graduation.^[52] As more students choose where to work based on the firms' diversity rankings, firms face an increasing market pressure in order to attract top recruits.^[53]

In popular culture

Books

Movies

Television shows

A number of television shows have revolved around relationships occurring in fictional law firms, highlighting both public fascination with and misperception of the lives of lawyers in high-powered settings.

See also

• White shoe firm
• Magic Circle
• Big Six law firms (Australia)
• List of 100 largest law firms globally
• Book of business (law)
• Big Five law firms (South Africa)
• Seven Sisters (major Canadian law firms)

References

1. ^ American Bar Association ABA Journal July 2009
2. ^ Robert L. Nelson, Partners With Power: The Social Transformation of the Large Law Firm (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 71-72.
3. ^ Michael H. Trotter, Profit and the Practice of Law: What's Happened to the Legal Profession (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1997), 83.
4. ^ See People ex rel. Dept. of Corporations v. SpeeDee Oil Change Systems, Inc., 20 Cal. 4th 1135, 1152-1153 (1999).
5. ^ Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. & Angelo Dondi, Legal Ethics: A Comparative Study (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), 39.
6. ^ Wayne L. Anderson and Marilyn J. Headrick, The Legal Profession: Is it for you? (Cincinnati: Thomson Executive Press, 1996), 111.
7. ^ Hazard, 37-39.
8. ^ Hazard, 39.
9. ^ Trotter, 46.
10. ^ Nelson, 172, and Trotter, 50.
11. ^ Lawrence M. Friedman, American Law in the 20th Century (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 462.
12. ^ Trotter, 56.
13. ^ Richard L. Abel, American Lawyers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 190-199.
14. ^ Anderson, 113.
15. ^ Friedman, 462.
16. ^ Bmacewen.com
17. ^ Eliane Botelho Junqueira, "Brazil: The Road of Conflict Bound for Total Justice," in Legal Culture in the Age of Globalization: Latin America and Latin Europe, eds. Lawrence M. Friedman and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo, 64-107 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), 92.
18. ^ Ashly H. Pinnington & John T. Gray, "The global restructuring of legal services work? A study of the internationalisation of Australian law firms," 14 Int'l J. Legal Prof. 147, 151-152 (2007).
19. ^ http://www.denverpost.com/theeconomy/ci_12050886 Denver Post, Big law firms cut attorneys, staff in tight economy, 2 April 2009
20. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWC1nJ1AQX3I&refer=home Bloomberg, Law Firms in US eliminate 700 jobs as economy slows, 13 February 2009
21. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/25/BUQF135ES8.DTL&tsp=1 San Francisco Chronicle, Heller Ehrman law firm to dissolve Friday, 26 Sept 2008
22. ^ http://www.amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/04/baker-mckenzie-layoffs.html American Law Daily, Baker & McKenzie eliminates 124 legal and nonlegal jobs, 7 April 2009
23. ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202432119451 Law dot com, DLA Piper cuts 121 in second round of layoffs, 9 July 2009
24. ^ http://www.jdjournal.com/2009/02/06/hinshaw-culbertson-lays-off-11-attorneys-17-staff JD Journal, Hinshaw Culbertson lays off, 6 February 2009
25. ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202425647706&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1 American Lawyer, The Layoff List, 3 Sept 2009
26. ^ "What Do New Lawyers Earn? A 15-Year Retrospective as Reported by Law School Graduates". The distribution of these salaries is highly bimodal, with the majority of new lawyers earning at either the high end or the low end of the scale. The median salary is US$62,000 [1]. The Association for Legal Career Professionals, http://www.nalp.org/content/index.php?pid=520
27. ^ alreadybored.com/NYC/Salary
28. ^ alreadybored.com/CA/Salary
29. ^ alreadybored.com/DC/Salary
30. ^ alreadybored.com/MA/Salary
31. ^ alreadybored.com/IL/Salary
32. ^ alreadybored.com/TX/Salary
33. ^ alreadybored.com/GA/Salary
34. ^ alreadybored.com/PA/Salary
35. ^ alreadybored.com/NJ/Salary
36. ^ alreadybored.com/FL/Salary
37. ^ alreadybored.com/CO/Salary
38. ^ alreadybored.com/WA/Salary
39. ^ alreadybored.com
40. ^ alreadybored.com/NYC/Bonus
41. ^ Abovethelaw.com
42. ^ Law Firms and Salaries - AlreadyBored.com
43. ^ "Goodwin Procter Careers, Law Students". Goodwin Procter. 2008. http://www.goodwinprocter.com/Careers/Career-Opportunities/Law-Students/JD-MBA.aspx. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
44. ^ "Paul Hastings Career Center FAQ". Paul Hastings. 2008. http://www.paulhastings.com/careers_attorneys_FAQs.aspx. Retrieved May 12, 2008.
45. ^ SLC ,
46. ^ Alan Feuer, "Next Stop for a Legal Team? A Personal Injury Case in Queens," New York Times, 26 December 2001, D1.
47. ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1175223828867 The Corporate Scorecard
48. ^ http://www.averyindex.com Law Firm Rankings
49. ^ http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1177664676190 AmLaw 100
50. ^ Amir Efrati, You Say You Want a Big-Law Revolution, Take II, "Wall Street Journal", October 10, 2007.
51. ^ Adam Liptak, In Students’ Eyes, Look-Alike Lawyers Don’t Make the Grade, New York Times, October 29, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/us/29bar.html?em&ex=1193889600&en=4b0cd84261ffe5b4&ei=5087%0A
52. ^ Henry Weinstein, Big L.A. law firms score low on diversity survey: The numbers of female, black, Latino, Asian and gay partners and associates lag significantly behind their representation in the city's population, according to a study, "Los Angeles Times", October 11, 2007, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-diversity11oct11,1,661263.story?coll=la-headlines-california
53. ^ Thomas Adcock and Zusha Elinson, Student Group Grades Firms On Diversity, Pro Bono Work, "New York Law Journal," October 19, 2007, http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?hubtype=BackPage&id=1192698212305

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