The Tide Turns: Rising Legal Services Employment in the United States

The legal services market in the United States contracted since the Great Recession.  However, there have been reports of a rebound.  CBRE, a commercial real estate firm, has released a report concerning legal services and real estate in the United States.  Part of the report concerns rethinking how square footage in law firms can be used more efficiently, including increasing collaboration space.  Another part of the report examines legal services employment—attorney employment--across the United States. 

The top five major legal services employment markets are 1) New York City; 2) Los Angeles; 3) Miami; 4) Chicago; and 5) Washington DC.  San Francisco is ninth.  The report states that there has not been much growth in most of the top ten major legal services employment markets except for Los Angeles (experiencing low double digit growth between 2015 and 2017) and San Francisco.  The report states that this is likely due to the growth in the media and tech industries.  In the highest growth markets category, Austin and Atlanta were the leaders in attorney growth.  Austin added more than 10%.  Austin is well-known for its tech industry.  According to the report, the cities of Austin, Atlanta and Kansas City added 10% or more growth in attorney positions since 2015.  The report also discusses the cities with largest decline in law degrees awarded.