The most recent numbers we have reveals that there are approximately 1.2 million lawyers in the United States. That is one lawyer for every 200 adults. At the same time, there have been great increases in the number of students entering and graduating from almost 200 law schools, resulting in a virtually unprecedented high percentage of unemployed recent law school graduates. The New York Times reports that in 2009 twice as many people passed the bar as there were job openings. What should we be doing as a profession and as a society? We cannot seem to stem the tide of applicants even though the recent recession has put somewhat of a damper on the attraction of lawyering. We also are deeply concerned about the deflation in hourly rates. Most private practitioners had assumed by now that their hourly fees would be in the $700 to $800 range; instead, many of them are working at hourly rates equal to or less than their neighborhood auto mechanics. This has got to stop and there is only one way to do it.
The key to solving this problem is amortization. We need to amortize the number of lawyers over time through an orderly, random selection. We respectfully propose that we must align the number of lawyers with the real needs and demands of society to ensure the very highest hourly rates so that those who remain will be able to reasonably afford multiple homes, multiple spouses (seriatim), multiple cars and early retirements. The 60-hour work week for lawyers has got to end. We need to go back to the more leisurely 20- to 30-hour week that will enable our brothers and sisters to get out on the golf course and to have guiltless afternoons and even whole days at spas.
