Over the 15 years from 1998 to 2013 [xix], the number
of lawyers in private practice in firms of more than 50 lawyers appears to have increased by 112 lawyers annually (i.e. 2.9 %).
This might be possible to maintain if there is a real desire to do so, as it seems that lawyers as a community have the potential to decide to a great degree what kinds of practice they want to have, this is especially
true of lawyers in private practice who can choose how their offices are run and who, in many cases, have an ownership stake in the organizations where they work.
It is innovation that will speed the reduction of the per capita number
of lawyers in the private practice of law; see: Colin Lachance, «Law's Reverse Musical Chair Challenge» (Slaw, June 16, 2016).
The disparity is stark: Despite now making up 39 per cent of the profession in Ontario, and 31 per
cent of lawyers in private practice, women account for only 21 per cent of law firm partners.
It will take much longer for women to advance beyond their current 26 %
of lawyers in private practice.
The chart below illustrates both the growth in the number
of lawyers in private practice and the reduction in the proportion of lawyers who chose to go into private practice in the last 20 years.
By my calculation, the number
of lawyers in private practice is closely correlated with population growth in Ontario.
I have assumed that this double counting is randomly distributed by firm size and have restated the numbers so that the number of lawyers in firms is forced to the number
of lawyers in private practice.
A summary of the statistical decline of the number
of lawyers in private practice is provided in a recent article by CanLII's former President, Colin Lachance, «Law's Reverse Musical Chair Challenge,» (Slaw, June 16, 2016).