Vol. 77, No. 9, September 2004

By the Numbers

by
State Bar executive director

Quite often I am asked, "Just how many attorneys are there in Wisconsin?" And, "Where are they?"

As of July 1, 2004, there were 21,518 Wisconsin-licensed attorneys. Five years ago, the number was 19,984 and five years before that it was 17,974 attorneys. That is a 20 percent increase in the number of attorneys in 10 years.

Today, 6,581, or 30.5 percent of the total membership of Wisconsin attorneys live and work outside of the state. Five years ago, 29.6 percent were nonresident members and in 1994, 28.5 percent held the same status.

While the number of nonresident lawyers has increased at a slightly faster rate than the total number of members, the number of women lawyers has increased dramatically. In 1994, 4,043 members (about 22.5 percent) were women. By 1999, the percentage had grown to 26 percent, and today the number is 6,197, or 28.8 percent. These numbers belie the trend toward even greater numbers of women practicing in the profession. A breakdown by age reveals that only 8 percent of the lawyers age 60 and older are women. This percentage grows dramatically as we look at younger ages. For lawyers age 50 to 59, 21 percent are women, for age 40-49, it is 34 percent, for age 30-39, it is 41 percent, and for lawyers up to age 29, 49 percent are women.

It is no surprise that the greatest number of lawyers have their offices in Milwaukee. At 5,095, this one county alone holds 34 percent of the Wisconsin resident lawyers. When you add in the greater Milwaukee area counties of Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Washington, and Ozaukee, you have 7,287 or 49 percent of all the lawyers in the state. Dane County has the second largest number of lawyers at 3,132, or 21 percent of the in-state lawyers. Waukesha is a distant third at 1,212, followed by Brown, Racine, and Outagamie counties. Florence County has the fewest attorneys, with only two, which is down from three attorneys 10 years ago. Similarly, the relative percentage of attorneys by county has stayed the same as 10 years ago, though some counties such as Waukesha have grown slightly faster than the state as a whole.

In recent years, we have asked you to check up to three of 49 boxes indicating your primary areas of practice on your membership statement. Of those who filled in any boxes, 3,606 practice in the business/corporate field; 3,153 practice real property law; 2,826 practice criminal law; and 2,818 practice in torts/personal injury law. Family law is fifth, with 2,370 members practicing in this area. Only 14 lawyers practice in admiralty/maritime law, 52 in transportation, and 68 in civil procedure. In the Dairy State, only 87 lawyers specifically practice agriculture law.

This year, the Board of Governors must submit to the Wisconsin Supreme Court a plan for reapportionment of its 16 Board of Governors districts. While not concerned about practice area or gender, the committee working on this issue will be using these and other locational statistics to create the best possible apportionment plan so that you will have the fairest chance to have your voice heard in the making of State Bar policy.

The 49 members of the Board are your representatives who debate and decide State Bar policy. In the near future, the Board will be deciding the State Bar's positions on such significant issues as the petition submitted by the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation to the Wisconsin Supreme Court requesting a $50 annual mandatory fee from all attorneys that WisTAF would use to fund civil legal services to the indigent, and the proposed Ethics 2000 rule changes that were submitted to the supreme court by the court's own Ethics 2000 Study Committee.

To contact your governor on these or other important issues before the State Bar, visit the Board of Governors area on WisBar.

Wisconsin Lawyer