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GA Z E T TE
APRIL. 1984
A Profile of Lawyer Lifestyles
by
Rosslyn S. Smith
(Reprinted from the American Bar Association Journal)
D
ID you ever wonder if you're earning as much as
other lawyers? When you worked on a Saturday,
were you curious if other lawyers put in that much time?
The
ABA Journal
wondered too, and for the first time ever
developed a profile of what it's like to work as a lawyer.
Some highlights of the survey are:
• As a group, ABA lawyers work very hard. Four of
five work more than 40 hours a week, and more
than eight of 10 work at least one Saturday a month,
almost 30 percent work every Saturday.
• Most lawyers have an office practice. The average
lawyer member works 47 hours a week but spends
less than 1.25 hours a week in court.
• Despite the long hours and career pressures, 89
percent said they are happy with their career choice.
These findings are just the highlights of a survey
conducted by the
ABA Journal
in May 1983, based on
questionnaires sent to two random samples of 2,000 ABA
members. One sample received questions on time
management, and the other on their attitudes about the
profession. Both samples answered the same basic core of
questions on age, income and type of practice; 895
responded to the time management survey, 841 to the
attitude survey.
The profile drawn from this survey shows that, in
general, ABA lawyers are young professionals making a
go of relatively small practices. If they don't actually feel
prosperous, they are generally optimistic about their
financial future.
They were drawn to the practice of law because they felt
it would be a fulfilling use of their talents, and they liked
the nature of the work. But their basic value orientation is
to family and friends. This in turn creates a conflict, for
while most of them are happy in their career choice, they
are vexed that the heavy d ema nds on their time keep them
from their families. This conflict is illustrated by the
particularly high percentage of young lawyers who are
uncertain whether they would chose law a second time. It
is an open question whether this conflict is strong enough
to cause these lawyers to switch careers or to force
changes in the way law is now practiced.
A youthful profession
The practice of law may be old and steeped in tradition,
but the practitioners are on the average surprisingly
young. The median age for men in the sample is.37 years
and for women, 31. Only 15 percent are over 50. The
median age of lawyers began d r opp i ng in the 1970s,
reflecting the huge numb er of new law school graduates in
that decade.
Of the lawyers surveyed, 87 percent were male and 13
percent female. The number of women in the profession
has grown rapidly and will continue to do so, in view of
the fact tht 37 percent of all students in law school are
women.
Although the ABA is often associated with large law
firms with c o r p o r a te clients, its memb e rs are
predominately in general practice in small to medium-
sized law firms. Of the respondents, 72 percent are in
private practice, 11 percent in corporate law departments
and 6 percent work as government lawyers, including
prosecutors. The remaining 10 percent are judges,
teachers or pursue non-legal careers. While 6 percent of
members are over 65, only 1 percent of the more than
1,700 respondents considered themselves retired from
practice.
With all that has been written about the increasing
specialization of the profession, it should be noted that 44
percent of those surveyed indicated they were in general
practice. Twenty-two percent concentrated in corporate
law, 11 percent in tax and 9 percent in real estate. One in
every four checked off more than one area of concentra-
tion of practice.
Lawyers live close to their work. Amo ng the
commuters, 39 percent spent less than 15 minutes getting
to work, 31 percent spent 16 to 30 minutes and 14 percent
spent 31 to 45 minutes. Lawyers prefer to drive: 71 percent
c ommu te by private car, as opposed to only 7 percent who
take a bus, 5 percent who ride a train and 5 percent who
take a subway.
Tod a y 's lawyers have joined the c ompu t er age. The
figures from the lifestyle surveys correspond to another
survey taken by the
ABA Journal
in J a nu a ry 1983, which
found that 70 percent of all law offices in the country had
at least one data or word processing terminal. This earlier
survey also found that 47 percent of ABA members were
considering the purchase of a computer for business or
home use in the near future. Even very small law firms
have computerized. The results show that law firms own a
computer terminal when their size reaches four or more
lawyers.
Financial rewards
Not surprisingly, the income of lawyers increases as
they grow older, with ma x imum earnings arriving
between 51 and 55. There is an interesting large j ump in
income that occurs a r ound age 40; because election to
partnerhsip usually takes place in a lawyer's mid to late
30s, this sudden income boost is readily explained.
When broken down according to gender, the survey
results showed a large gap in income between men and
women, with women lawyers earning considerably less.
This difference can be explained by the fact that women
are relative newcomers to the profession and that women
lawyers tend to be younger and less experienced than male
lawyers. Women also are more likely to work in govern-
ment or corporate law departments where the t op salaries
are consistently less than the top salaries in private
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