Orange County Attorneys
Lawyers & Law
- About 27 percent of lawyers are self-employed, either as partners in law firms or in solo practices.
- Formal requirements to become a lawyer usually include a 4-year college degree, 3 years of law school, and passing a written bar examination; however, some requirements may vary by State.
- Competition for admission to most law schools is intense.
- Competition for job openings should be keen because of the large number of students graduating from law school each year.
Salaries of experienced attorneys vary widely according to the type, size, and location of their employer. Lawyers who own their own practices usually earn less than those who are partners in law firms. Lawyers starting their own practice may need to work part time in other occupations to supplement their income until their practice is well established.
Employment of lawyers is expected to grow 11 percent during the 2006-16 decade, about as fast as the average for all occupations. The growth in the population and in the level of business activity is expected create more legal transactions, civil disputes, and criminal cases. Job growth among lawyers also will result from increasing demand for legal services in such areas as health care, intellectual property, venture capital, energy, elder, antitrust, and environmental law.
Compensation varies greatly depending on a lawyer’s practice setting, geographic location, demand for that specialty, the state of the legal job market and practice setting. In May 2004, the median annual earnings of all lawyers were $94,930 and the middle half of the occupation earned between $64,620 and $143,620 according to the U.S. Department of Labor. While starting salaries for attorneys in large metropolitan law firms such as Boston and New York range from $135,000 to $160,000, attorneys in the public sector, such as public defenders and district attorneys, earn much less.
While lawyers assume ultimate responsibility for legal work, they often delegate many of their tasks to paralegals. In fact, paralegals—also called legal assistants—are continuing to assume a growing range of tasks in legal offices and perform many of the same tasks as lawyers. Nevertheless, they are explicitly prohibited from carrying out duties considered to be the practice of law, such as setting legal fees, giving legal advice, and presenting cases in court.
- Most entrants have an associate degree in paralegal studies, or a bachelor’s degree coupled with a certificate in paralegal studies.
- About 7 out of 10 work for law firms; others work for corporate legal departments and government agencies.
- Employment is projected to grow much faster than average, as employers try to reduce costs by hiring paralegals to perform tasks once done by lawyers.
- Competition for jobs should continue; experienced, formally trained paralegals should have the best employment opportunities.
AKIN GUMP
Akin Cuts 65 Support Staff Jobs
ALLEN & OVERY
A &O to Cut Partners, Associates and Freeze Pay
BALLARD SPAHR ANDREWS & INGERSOLL
Firms Continue to Scale Back Jobs for Attorneys and Staff
Law Firms See More Job Layoffs, Departures of Staff and Associates
BELL BOYD & LLOYD
Chicago's Bell Boyd & Lloyd Lays Off 10 Associates
Bell Boyd Confirms Job Layoffs
BINGHAM MCCUTCHEN
Bingham McCutchen Lays Off 10 Staff Members Jobs
Bingham Lays Off San Francisco Bay Area Staff
BLANK ROME
Job Layoffs Continue
Law Firms See More Job Layoffs, Departures of Staff and Associates
BROWN RUDNICK BERLACK ISRAELS
Boston-Based Brown Rudnick Lays Off 20 Lawyers, 20 Staff Members
BRYAN CAVE
58 Attorneys, 76 Staff at Bryan Cave Jobs Let Go
BUCHANAN INGERSOLL & ROONEY
Buchanan Ingersoll Continues With Staff Job Cuts
Buchanan Ingersoll to Cut Legal Secretaries, Administrative Staff
CADWALADER, WICKERSHAM & TAFT
Cadwalader Set to Cut Staff Jobs From London Office
Cadwalader Lays Off 96 More Lawyers
Cadwalader Laying Off 35 in Wake of Slumping Markets
CAHILL GORDON
Nationwide Job Layoff Watch: Cahill Gordon
CLIFFORD CHANCE
CC Set to Lay Off Up to 80 Lawyers Jobs in the City
With '01 in Mind, Law Firms Alter Layoff Strategy
COOLEY GODWARD
Cooley's Job Layoffs Were Worse Than We Thought
