Law Firms

The definition of a law firm is a business that is formed by one or multiple lawyers for the purpose of practicing law. One main service that are offered by law firms are client advisement about any legal rights or responsibilities. Another service offered by a law firm is the representation of clients in a court of law in criminal or civil cases. Law firms are organized in different ways, depending on the specific powers of the law firm.

There are several common arrangements for law firms, with two of them being particularly popular. One is sole proprietorship, where one attorney is responsible for everything involving the law firm. Another arrangement for a law firm is called general partnership. These law firms are owned by a group of lawyers who share ownership equally. Typically, law firms have partners who jointly own and operate the law firm. Law firms vary in size. Some law firms have literally one individual working for it while other law firms may have hundreds of individuals working for them. Smaller firms tend to concentrate on specialities such as financial or family law. Larger law firms tend to branch out and offer several law services to their clients. These larger law firms also may have several specialized groups within the law firm, all concentrating on specific law fields.

Law firms have been in existence since the early 1860s, right before the start of the Civil War. From this law firm, others began to spring up, with the idea quickly reaching England. Statistically, the United States and England combined have a large number of smaller law firms, with two to 50 lawyers and mid size law firms which employ about 50 to 200 lawyers. Because the field of law is so competitive due to the large number of lawyers in the United States, many law firms choose to specialize in one or two individual fields to set themselves apart from the rest of the law firms.

Being an attorney is typically considered to be a prestigious career with access to a large salary, but with the recession of 2009, many law firms shut down leaving a large group of unemployed lawyers looking for new law firms to work for. In early February of 2009, it was reported that over 700 jobs were cut from various law firms in one day.

New graduates tend to seek out small law firms to gain experience in when they first graduate law school, while more experienced lawyers gravitate towards a larger law firm that pays more money. Even with the many law firms in the United States, individuals are still having a hard time finding jobs in the field of law.