Bench & Bar November/December 2025

1 As we know from personal experience, many lawyers tend to work into their retire ment years. My own father practiced law until he was 80 years old. The ABA reports that 13.1% of attorneys work past age 65 compared to 6.8% of the general popula tion. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers work later into their retirement years than lawyers. Despite our apparent love of our profession and/or our inability to actually retire, in 10 years, the youngest Boomer will be 70 years old. Based upon these statistics and our personal experi ence, it is reasonable to conclude that most Boomers will be retired. So, who comes next and what will that look like? Right now, the ABA reports that 78% of lawyers are “Caucasian/White” with no other ethnic group having more than 7% of the lawyer population. And 58.43% of attorneys are male and 41.24% are female. Things, however, are changing dramati cally. The Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) reported in 2024 that 40.2% of the incoming class of 2023 were “students of color.” That year, women made up 55.8% of the entering class, which it reported was the highest in history. Of this group, 14.7% reported as LGBTQ+. These statistics are to be expected. Frankly, they are positive as they show that America as it is constituted today is going to be well represented in the legal profession. This still leaves a big question unanswered: So, what happened to all of the men? At present, 58.43% of attorneys are male and 41.24% are female. But these statistics are also changing. The number of law students peaked in 2010 at 147,525. As of 2023, that number has decreased to 116,851, indi cating that people are less interested in pursuing the law than in decades past. Most of this decline stems from men not pursuing a legal career. In 2010, there were 78,516 male law students. By 2023, that number had declined to 50,096, a 28,420-person decline. In my own family, my daughter is a lawyer, but both of my sons chose to pursue a career in computer science. I urged both of my sons to pursue a legal career, but they both believed that they could make more money in technology without the time and expense of going to law school. But this anecdote cannot explain where all of the men have gone. Another explana tion could be fewer men pursuing a college degree. The Pew Research Center reported that from its peak in 2011, the population of men attending a four-year college dropped by 1.2 million. The truth is likely in the mix. Either way, a balanced legal profession is preferable. But addressing the decline in male participation in higher education is an issue well beyond my expertise and the scope of this inquiry.

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2 ADDRESSING AI It is possible, however, that AI will solve any lawyer shortages by allowing fewer lawyers to do more with less. And if the AI “Tech Bros” get their way, we will all be out of job and AI will be running the show. Arma geddon aside, based upon my use of AI, I am convinced it will greatly increase lawyer productivity. Therefore, our demographics problem may be solved by our AI problem.

4 november/december 2025