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FEBRUARY 2005 |
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Legal Marketing News is an Online Publication Offered by Envision Agency for Legal Vendors Mission: To help legal vendors decide how and where to spend their marketing dollars and keep them informed on the legal industry and trends. |
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U.S. Legal Industry Overview Understanding the Landscape of the U.S. Legal Industry Do you and your company understand the legal marketplace? Do you know where to go for statistic and trend information? Envision Agency has been involved in marketing to law firms for several years, and we cannot tell you how often we come across companies who are either unaware or misinformed about basic lawyer statistics. We are referring to information that builds the basis of any market analysis or sales plan - How many law firms are there in the U.S.? What do the top rankings in the industry measure? Here is a breakdown of important industry statistics. U.S. Firm Size Statistics (Sources: ABA; U.S. Census; Zapp Data (a division of Dunn & Bradstreet))Ä There are approximately 900 law firms in U.S. with 50 attorneys or more(112 employees). Of those firms, roughly 700 have between 50-150 attorneys. Ä Medium and large firm market accounts for less than .1% of the entire U.S. legal market!Ä Over 76% of all U.S. firms have less than 4 employees.Ä 22% of all U.S. firms and legal service providers have 5 to 49 employees and less than 20 attorneysU.S. Legal Market Statistics (Sources: Am Law 100; Am Law 200; Am Law Global 100; U.S. Census; Zapp Data (a division of Dunn & Bradstreet)) Ä The estimated number of U.S. establishments providing legal services is 249,969.Ä The estimated number of people employed in this industry is 1,464,737.Ä The total annual sales in this industry is $118,160.20 million.Ä The average number of employees per establishment is 6.Ä The average sales per establishment is $0.50 million.Ä The five largest U.S. legal markets are California, New York, Florida, Illinois & Pennsylvania.Ä According to the 2004 Am Law 100 revenue ranking, Skadden Arps, the #1 revenue generating firmin the U.S., had gross revenues of $1.33 billion in 2003. Ä 27 of the Am Law 100 firms had gross revenues exceeding $500 million in 2003.Ä 2004 Am Law 100 firm #100, Preston Gates & Ellis, had total revenue of $189 million.Industry Trends & Projections Mergers & Acquisitions : Consolidation in the profession will continue in 2005 primarily through lateral acquisitions of prominent partners and practice groups. There were 69 announced law firm mergers and acquisitions worldwide reported in Hildebrandt Headlines in 2004, a handful more than the number reported in 2003. There were 47 completed domestic and transatlantic U.S. mergers in 2004, as noted in Hildebrandt International’s MergerWatch and 5 law firm dissolutions reported in Headlines in 2004, down from 13 in 2003.Global Expansion: U.S. firms will continue to make substantial investments in foreign offices, as they have for the past several years, and UK firms will aggressively pursue the U.S. market. In 2004, there were 41 foreign office openings in 19 countries compared to 13 office closings in 8 countries in 2003. Internal Structure & Operations: The trend of the past several years toward more centralized management and decision making will continue, with the management of many firms assuming greater responsibility for the strategic direction of their organizations. On the technology side, firms are likely to continue their integration of back-office systems and their efforts to take better advantage of knowledge management and relationship management tools. Finally, firms will continue to explore ways to improve operating efficiencies, including outsourcing of certain back office functions (e.g., document management, accounting, litigation support), with more of this outsourcing being offshore. (Source: Hildebrandt International, 2004 Client Advisory, Feb. 2004, Hildebrandt Headlines, 2004 Summary, January 11, 2005.)Legal Research & Trend Resources Below you will find several links to useful information and statistics on the U.S. legal market: American Lawyer Media Law Firm Rankings: Every year American Lawyer Magazine publishes various law firm rankings including the Am Law 100 (July, 100 largest revenue firms, US); Am Law 200 (Aug., 101-200 largest revenue firms, US); Global 100 (Nov. 100 largest revenue firms, worldwide); and Am Law Tech Survey (Nov. What technology are the top 200 firms using?). For more rankings, law firm reports and industry briefs, go to ALM’s Legal Market Info web site. ABA Technology Survey: 2003 survey includes trends in technology uses by ABA member firms. LawNet Annual Technology Survey: 2004 Technology Survey includes trends in technology use by LawNet member firms, with data representing over 84,000 attorneys and 198,000 total end users. Legal Technology Insider’s UK Technology Usage Ranking: THE INSIDER 200 - for the UK & Ireland lists various software applications for top 200 firms. Hildebrandt Headlines: Hildebrandt International publishes this weekly electronic newsletter offering a summary of the current news and trends in the legal and other professional services industries. Go to Hildebrandt Headlines for more information. Law.com BLOG Network: Choose from 9 unique web logs a.k.a. BLOGS concerning all things legal…the legal industry that is. Go to Law.com and read about their bloggers. # # # Jobst Elster is Vice President of Envision Agency. He can be reached at 850.562.8156 or elster@envisionagency.com.
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Envision Agency is a full-service marketing firm specializing in the legal industry.
www.envisionagency.com | 770-438-1908 |
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Envision
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