A survey published in the ABA J., Vol. 95, Jan. 2009 at 12, drew responses from an astonishing 14,307 attorneys – “more than 1.3 percent of the nation’s 1.1 million lawyers.” The survey results about predictions for the economic future don’t matter for this blog, but always read the footnotes!
The methodology footnote explains that twelve percent of the respondents self-identified as “in-house counsel” and nine percent as “government lawyer.” I regard government lawyers, who work in law departments just as much as do lawyers who are employed by corporations (or for that matter partnerships or non-profits), as “in-house counsel.” If true, then about 21 percent of this massive slice of American lawyers are “in-house.” That statistics bolster previous estimates about the number or percentage of corporate lawyers employed in the United States (See my post of Sept. 25, 2005: ACC data; Dec. 3, 2006: Fortune 500 staff figures; and Dec. 11, 2006: estimate of 10% in-house.).