Sad tale of the Philly lawyers

THE COVER OF a well-known local magazine recently featured a suited, French-cuffed arm jutting out of coffin.

The corpse's hand is holding

a briefcase. And the cover

asks: "Who killed the Philadelphia lawyer?"

We're promised a tale of "greed, mergers, ego."

And I can attest to the fact that all three are in ample supply among Philadelphia's lawyers and law firms.

But none of these have killed the Philadelphia lawyer. To the contrary, legal business in the city and the region appears to be booming. There are nearly 16,000 lawyers in Philadelphia now and the magazine points out that one in five Center City offices is occupied by a law firm.

And Philadelphia lawyers are doing quite well, thank you. According to the Philadelphia Bar Association's own survey of the profession, the median income for a Philadelphia lawyer has jumped from $70,400 in 1990 to $109,000 in 2005 (the last year for which figures are available).

That's an increase of nearly 55 percent. And the same survey showed that the typical Philadelphia lawyer has a net worth of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. Not bad. So, what seems to be the problem?

Well, the article says that Philadelphia lawyers just aren't happy. They're not satisfied, not content with their work. They feel the profession's become too much of a business - too big, too complicated, too globalized.

They complain about long workdays, endless billable hours and a loss of congeniality.

"It can suck the soul out of you," one lawyer laments. Another carps: "It's hard to develop camaraderie when you don't know half the people in the firm."

To hear these lawyers tell it, all law firms are huge, cold, greedy - and the partners are mean, cunning and vindictive.

It's so bad, and a lot of lawyers are so desperate to get out, that they're reportedly working on screenplays or novels, "trying to become the next John Grisham."

But wait. Lawyers who responded to the Philadelphia Bar Association's barwide survey say they work, on average, about 48 hours a week. That hardly seems oppressive. And 60 percent say they even make it a point to donate a certain amount of their time to various causes and agencies pro bono publico - for the good of the public.

What's more, over the years the same survey has never showed a particularly high degree of dissatisfaction with the practice of law.

Beyond all this, more than 50 percent of Philadelphia lawyers still work in firms with 25 or fewer lawyers. Only 29 percent of the lawyers are in firms of 150 or more.

Yes, a lot more money is made at the top, in the big law firms. And the article correctly notes that gross revenues at some big firms easily exceed $200 million while annual per-partner profits soar above half a million.

Well, you'd expect that lots of people would have to work long and hard to generate that kind of dough.

Are we to feel sorry for them?

WHEN YOU start approaching that kind of income, it isn't long before you accumulate what's called "FU money." Which means, if you don't enjoy the work, you don't have to hang around anymore. If you want to, you can walk at any time. You could probably go home and spend your time folding your money if that's what turns you on.

Don't worry about Philadelphia lawyers. They'll be around as long as humans are imperfect.

And that's not such a bad thing. In fact, it's good for the city because, for better or worse, these lawyers are vital to the local economy. Without the tax revenue that the lawyers, their employees and their firms generate, the city would probably go under.

Don't cry for them, Philadelphia. Just pray that the lawyers remember Lincoln's admonition that "if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave."*

Daniel A. Cirucci is a former associate executive director of the Philadelphia

Bar Association.

He blogs at dancirucci.blogspot.com.