The national Association for Law Placement published the following statistics for the 39,199 members of the class of 1995. Nine percent of the class of 1995 choose non-legal jobs. You must take the above statistics seriously because they apply to you as well as the faceless masses. About 72.9 percent of American lawyers are in private practice, most in small, one-person offices and some in large firms. Roughly 8.2 percent of the profession works for government agencies, 9.5 percent works for private industries and associations as salaried lawyers or as managers, 1.1 percent works for legal aid or as public defenders, and one percent is in legal education.
Many lawyers develop expertise in a particular field of law.
Large law firms that provide a full range of legal services tend to employ more specialists. The sole practitioner, who must handle a variety of problems alone, may have greater opportunity to work in several areas. Both specialized and general practice can be rewarding. One offers the satisfaction of mastering a particular legal discipline, and the other the challenge of exploring new fields. The corporate lawyer helps clients conduct their business affairs in a manner that is efficient and consistent with the law.