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 years, and we cannot tell you how often we come across companies who are either unaware or misinformed about basic legal 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 US? What do the top rankings in the industry measure? Here is a breakdown of important industry statistics that we have compiled from various sources.

• There are approximately 1,300 law firms in North America with 100 employees or more (~45 attorneys+).

• Of those, 360 firms have 250 employees or more (~110 attorneys+)

• Firms with 100 employees or more account for less than .5% of the entire U.S. legal market.

• 55.8% of all U.S. firms have 2 to 4 employees.

• 88% of all U.S. firms and legal service providers have less than 25 employees (~10 attorneys).

Global Expansion:  For the second year in a row, more firms opened offices in China than any other foreign country. Hildebrandt Headlines reported a total of 14 law firms that opened new offices in China in 2005, including three in Hong Kong, up slightly from 11 in 2004.

Legal Department Trends:  Top U.S. government regulators are being increasingly tapped by corporations to become general counsel. There was also an increase in female general counsel at Fortune 500 companies reported in 2005 to 73 from 71 in 2004. Five years ago only 43 women were identified as general counsel of major companies. Legal spending in U.S. corporate law departments increased six percent from 2003 to 2004, according to the Hildebrandt 2005 US Law Department Survey.

Mergers & Acquisitions:  There were 49 completed domestic and trans-atlantic mergers involving U.S. firms in 2005, as noted in Hildebrandt International’s MergerWatch. There were an additional 14 mergers reported in Hildebrandt Headlines involving international firms (although this is not a comprehensive list of international combinations). The key trend relative to 2004 was that the average size of mergers increased. The average size of the smaller firm increased from 30 in 2004 to 67 lawyers in 2005. The largest merger of 2005 was the combination of DLA, Piper Rudnick, and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, creating a transatlantic firm of approximately 3,000 lawyers. The second largest merger of 2005 was Pillsbury Winthrop with Shaw Pittman, creating of firm of approximately 900 lawyers.

Jobst Elster is Vice President of Envision Agency.  He can be reached at 850.562.8156 or elster@envisionagency.com.