I am wondering what is happening to the law in London.
This amazing story, published when we had nothing better to do than eat turkey, is this in the FT.
So what is in it for all the lawyers in London? The answer seems to be in following the big American surge in technology
I speak as an outsider to all this but doesn’t this show a different view of Britain than that we read in the papers and hear from commentators on TV?
I know that this blog is read by some magic circles law firm associates and partners
They will be encouraged by this chart
It is very easy to worry about the changes in the business world from technology. Britain is at the heart of this and not just in a line from Cambridge to Oxford. It takes a kink into London – the City of London especially!
One US research paper concludes:
“Lawyers, along with economists, computer scientists, farmers, accountants, engineers, and social workers are among those workers whose efforts and effects ritually
are stereotyped, often humorously and sometimes unfairly.
“We will spare readers a recitation here of jokes about how many lawyers its takes to screw in a light bulb.
“Nevertheless, in this paper, we do not shrink from addressing another almost stereotypical concern concerning lawyers, namely, that they and their work can
constitute an economic drag on society.
“We find reasonable evidence that finds this allegation to be true among the 50 states.
“Our review of the literature revealed no lack of studies concerning the effects of
lawyers on economic growth, but we also found that nearly all previous work on this issue has been international in character.
“Very little research has focused on the impact of lawyers on the economic growth of the 50 states, which is our focal concern.
“Using two different measures of lawyer’s intensity, we discovered that an increase in the number of lawyers per capita has been negatively associated with the economic growth rates of the 50 states, 2005-2018.
“Further, when lawyers are compensated more and their
share of the national income increases, this also has had a negative impact upon state
economic growth rates.”
from Do Lawyers Inhibit Economic Growth? New Evidence from the 50
U.S. States, a 2023 paper by
James V. Koch
Old Dominion University, jkoch@odu.edu
and Richard J. Cebula
University of Tennessee
I do not follow the connection of super lawyers in the ’50 states’ with those ‘in London’. I f you want to talk about Solicitors in the UK then they are an expensive luxury for us average citizen when they quote over £400.00 an hour even just to send their legalized letter!
The FT article refers to US legal firms expanding overseas, including London.
I simply offered up some academic research (from the US) which suggests more lawyers there is not necessarily good for their economy, leaving you to draw your own conclusions about what more lawyers here may mean for our economy.
For an overview of the UK legal market see for example
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693be3c66a12691d48491ea8/open-competitive-legal-economy-benefits-report.pdf
You may or may not agree with the cost/benefit analysis.
The cost of legal letters could/should be coming down as a result of AI, perhaps, or perhaps not.
I am not confident that AI is likely to do anything for us, only take more control from the little that remains to us after excessive increasing government control this century! As for a reduction in legal costs, that is a laugh bearing in mind the time it takes lawyers to act to produce anything! Also, the legal courts system in the UK is a complete shambles. The average citizen in the UK has no chance of ‘bucking city hall’ as they have the advantage of paying, costs at our expense. A State Pensioner attracting more than £12,000.00 per annum is really at a disadvantage as those of us with £30,000 are also unlikely to want to use lawyers. A very unbalanced society!
” … an increase in the number of lawyers per capita has been negatively associated with the economic growth rates …. when lawyers are compensated more and their share of the national income increases, this also has had a negative impact upon economic growth rates.”
Does this not also apply to pension consultants?
You need anonymity to have a go at lawyers, Byron!