Keep this in mind as you check out how generative AI will overthrow the legal occupation: over the last twenty years the variety of internal attorneys has actually more than doubled while the variety of attorneys in Big Law has actually grown by less than a 3rd. The ramification? The legal market is currently changing as customers bring internal work that would traditionally have actually gone to outdoors counsel. Market improvement is not waiting on the next innovation wave to strike.
Figure 1 reveals the variety of U.S. attorneys working in-house and at Am Law 100 and 2nd Hundred companies from 2000 to 2022. In the mid-2000’s, basically the exact same variety of attorneys worked internal as at Am Law 100 companies. Because 2010, nevertheless, the trajectories have actually diverged. The internal ranks have actually grown by 77% while the Am Law 100 included simply 23%. Development at the 2nd Hundred, at 10%, has actually lagged both.
Credit: Hyeon Jin Kim/ALM