PREVENTIVE LAW: New drawing card for small firms, sole practitionersAuthor(s): Paul MarcotteSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 73, No. 12 (OCTOBER 1, 1987), p. 45Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20759544 .

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LAW PRACTICE FACTS, FIGURES Quick. Which state has the most

lawyers? The answer?California? was among the host of demographics presented by legal consultants Alt man & Weil at the "Marketing to

Lawyers" seminar sponsored by the ABA Journal at the Annual Meeting.

Here is a sampling. The five states with the most

lawyers: 1. California?82,646 lawyers; 2. New York?75,733 lawyers; 3. Texas?41,320 lawyers; 4. Illinois?37,520 lawyers; 5. Pennsylvania?34,880 law

yers. Total lawyers nationwide:

676,852. That's almost double the number in 1970 (355,242). By the year 2000, there will be an estimated 1 million lawyers.

Jurisdictions with the highest lawyer-to-population ratio:

1. District of Columbia?one lawyer for every 25 persons;

2. New York?1 to 280; 3. Alaska?1 to 297; 4. Massachusetts?1 to 309; 5. Colorado?1 to 334. Nationwide?one lawyer for

every 418 persons. By the year 2000,

estimates are there will be one law yer for every 300 persons.

Baby Boomers: Almost 75 per cent of female lawyers are under age 40, and almost 50 percent of male at torneys are under age 40.

Law schools are "cash cows": Law schools are profitable, and they produce about 35,000 lawyers a year. Although the rate of applications to law schools is down about 12 percent over the last few years, the rate of admissions is down only a fraction of 1 percent.

What lawyers do (using 1980 figures): Government 50,490 Judicial 19,160 Individual private practice 179,923 Group private practice 190,187 In-house

corporate 73,862 Private industry 54,626 Educational institutions 6,606 Other private employment 12,630 Inactive/retired 28,582

Partner-to-associate ratio: On

average, for every 10 partners there are eight associates, and for every 10 lawyers there are 11 support person nel.

Billable hours: The average for partners is 1,680, and for associates is 1,840. Ten years ago, the average bill able hours for partners was about 1,525.

Lawyer income: The average is $101,455, according to a survey spon sored by the ABA Journal and con ducted by Don Bowdren Associates. The median is $65,995. The average attorney's net worth is $512,300, while attorneys' median net worth is $227,410.

ABA membership: Delaware has the highest percentage of ABA members (87.3 percent) followed by Virginia (77.7 percent), Georgia (69.4 percent), Connecticut (68.3 percent) and Arizona (65 percent).

The lowest percentage of ABA members is in Puerto Rico (20.6 per cent) followed by Massachusetts (35.8 percent), District of Columbia (41.1 percent), New York (41.5 percent) and Pennsylvania (42.3 percent).

?Debra Cassens Moss

PREVENTIVE LAW

New drawing card for small firms, sole practitioners

In recent years, doctors have stressed preventive medicine, seek ing to diagnose health risks before they become big problems. Insurance companies have offered lower pre mium rates to policy holders who take preventive steps such as installing smoke alarms or taking driver's ed ucation classes.

Now lawyers are finding that preventive law not only can save their clients from future legal headaches, but also can bring sole practitioners and small law firms new business.

This was the message lawyers heard at the Annual Meeting pro gram entitled "How the Solo and Small Firm Lawyer Can Survive and

Prosper," sponsored by committees of the ABA's General Practice Section.

"The general public's image is that lawyers are professionals that you only hire when you're in trouble. Lawyers, as well as their clients, fos ter this image," said Louis Brown, a Los Angeles attorney who is an ex pert on preventive law.

One reason this image exists is that the benefits of preventive law are not as visible as winning a lawsuit. Yet, Brown said, lawyers can educate clients about the value of preventive law.

He pointed out that many law yers practice preventive law without labeling it as such. For example, es tate planning and drafting a will or a

pre-marital contract can be consid

ered preventive law. Brown recommended lawyers get

their local bar groups to sponsor pro grams on wills for young adults, counseling newlyweds on the legal aspects of marriage, legal counseling

for the elderly, and legal checkups before retirement.

Operators of small businesses would benefit from a review of licen sing agreement, labor and insurance problems.

"The whole area of preventive law is one of the last major areas to use as a marketing tool," said Edward Poll, a Los Angeles attorney who helped the Beverly Hills Bar Associ ation develop a pro bono program on counseling newlyweds.

Poll said preventive law pro grams make people more comforta ble with lawyers. "If you get people in nonthreatening situations, with out actual conflicts, they will be far more likely to come back to you in the future," he said.

Brown suggested that lawyers interested in more information about preventive law contact the National Center for Preventive Law in Den ver, Colo.

?Paul Marcotte

ABA JOURNAL / OCTOBER 1, 1987 45

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