I don’t read The New Yorker regularly, but I’m of the demographic that does, so it pained me to read the first two sentences of its article, “The Legal One Percent.”
After every recession since the Second World War, the legal profession swiftly and robustly recovered. Not this time.
This is not what the data say. The legal sector (which isn’t the same as the legal profession, but given that the article goes on to cite profits-per-partner data I think that’s what The New Yorker means) has done terribly after recessions since the late 1970s. Although the BEA still hasn’t updated its industry data for the period between 1977 and 1997 per its comprehensive revision, the older data show the overall stagnation.
It took five years for the legal sector to recover to its 1979 high, and then eight years to get back to where it was in 1990. This is supported by data on household consumption expenditures on legal services, as well as the Labor Department’s measure of employees in legal services.
Per capita spending on legal services probably peaked in 1990, and it’s probably fallen to its 1960s’ level.
The legal sector and the legal profession have been ailing for quite a while. It’s surprising that their stagnation is still misreported.
The Last Gen X American 