Lawyer research
July 11, 2006 11:43 AM Subscribe
Help me with my Census-fu.
I have to research statistics about lawyers. How can I use the U.S. Census to get information about
1. number of lawyers in a given state
2. number of firms in a given state and
3. the sizes of firms in a given state
? And other specific statistics... I've played around with the www.census.gov site a great deal and reached a dead end.
I've found the SOC for "lawyer" but I don't know how to use it to generate reports.
Some of this information I can get from the American Bar Association, but I need it specifically from the Census if possible...
Thanks!
I have to research statistics about lawyers. How can I use the U.S. Census to get information about
1. number of lawyers in a given state
2. number of firms in a given state and
3. the sizes of firms in a given state
? And other specific statistics... I've played around with the www.census.gov site a great deal and reached a dead end.
I've found the SOC for "lawyer" but I don't know how to use it to generate reports.
Some of this information I can get from the American Bar Association, but I need it specifically from the Census if possible...
Thanks!
It only answers how many individual lawyers in the state, by the way. I'm betting there aren't any census stats on firms. I'd try to get that info from the ABA.
posted by chiababe at 12:11 PM on July 11, 2006
posted by chiababe at 12:11 PM on July 11, 2006
Census website is down right now (a very common occurence), so I'm going off of memory.
The Census of Business will provide count of employers, revenues, and number of employees by industry (NAICS). Two issues you must consider, however: (1) many law-firms are not employers, so you must also look at nonemployer statistics from the Census, and (2) many employees in the law industry are not lawyers, so the Census will not and cannot answer your question.
Bureau of Labor Statistics will list the number of employees by occupation. If you use the correct SOC, you will get lawyers and only lawyers. There are some technical caveats with using the data, but it is likely good enough for your purposes. (Answer: Lawyers = 529,190, but does not include judges, mediators, etc. who are/were lawyers).
Martindale Hubbell is useful for finding an attorney, but not for counting them. Placement in the directory is expensive, and many attorneys, especially in smaller cities will not pay for placement.
posted by GarageWine at 12:45 PM on July 11, 2006
The Census of Business will provide count of employers, revenues, and number of employees by industry (NAICS). Two issues you must consider, however: (1) many law-firms are not employers, so you must also look at nonemployer statistics from the Census, and (2) many employees in the law industry are not lawyers, so the Census will not and cannot answer your question.
Bureau of Labor Statistics will list the number of employees by occupation. If you use the correct SOC, you will get lawyers and only lawyers. There are some technical caveats with using the data, but it is likely good enough for your purposes. (Answer: Lawyers = 529,190, but does not include judges, mediators, etc. who are/were lawyers).
Martindale Hubbell is useful for finding an attorney, but not for counting them. Placement in the directory is expensive, and many attorneys, especially in smaller cities will not pay for placement.
posted by GarageWine at 12:45 PM on July 11, 2006
To be accurate, Martindale-Hubbell does not require paid placement. I'm in there for free. Many small firms and solo lawyers just don't put forth the effort it requires to be listed in M-H. FindLaw is also another source of similar information.
posted by MeetMegan at 1:19 PM on July 11, 2006
posted by MeetMegan at 1:19 PM on July 11, 2006
Is something like this what you're looking for?
You might also try the Department of Finance for the given state -- I know the California Department of Finance gathers a lot of good info.
posted by salvia at 7:00 PM on July 11, 2006
You might also try the Department of Finance for the given state -- I know the California Department of Finance gathers a lot of good info.
posted by salvia at 7:00 PM on July 11, 2006
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posted by chiababe at 12:06 PM on July 11, 2006