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Career Research: Recent Reports & Data

This guide focuses on BLS Library's career research sources, publicly accessible sources and bar association sources that are free to U.S. law students.

American Bar Association

American Bar Association (ABA) is a membership organization.  ABA describes its mission as "defending liberty and pursuing justice."  ABA News on Twitter highlights recently published ABA reports.

American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, Employment Outcomes as of Mar. 15, 2024 (Class of 2023 Graduates) (Data compiled from school reports)

American Bar Association, Profile of the Legal Profession (annual - check for a new report in Fall 2024)

  • Tab: Chapters allows readers to view the 2023 report's chapters: Legal Aid Lawyers, Demographics, Wages, Legal Education, Judges, Pro Bono, Women in the Legal Profession, Technology, Lawyer Well-Being, and Lawyer Discipline.

Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

The Brennan Center for Justice states it is "a nonpartisan law and policy institute."

Federal Judicial Center

Federal Judicial Center states it is "the research and education agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. government."

Access tabs: Reports & Studies and Research: Special Topics.

Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal states it is "a civil rights organization fighting for the lived equality of all LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV."

Lambda Legal, Despite Gains, LGBTQ+ Representation on the Federal Bench Continues to Decline (posted on May 21, 2024)

Law.com Surveys & Rankings

Law.com states it is "the industry-leading media platform powering over 18 online U.S. national and regional award-winning legal publications that deliver news, rankings, reports, and strategy."

Tip: Click: Law.com > Menu > Surveys & Rankings to access material by title, or access page: Surveys & Rankings

Includes: Am Law 100, Am Law 200, Global 200, NLJ 500 and a Diversity Scorecard ("[a] ranking of large law firms' diversity efforts across hiring and promotion").

Remote access requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions for 1 web browser. 

Note: BLS Library does not currently subscribe to Law.com Compass or to Law.com Pro.

Law360 Pulse Surveys

Law360 Pulse reports on news about the business of law.  Law360 Pulse states it "combines the award-winning journalism of Law360 with powerful data and analytics from LexisNexis."

Click Law360's tab: Pulse to view sources such as:

Remote access requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions for 1 web browser. 

National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ)

NAWJ states its "mission is to promote the judicial role of protecting the rights of individuals under the rule of law through strong, committed, diverse judicial leadership; fairness and equality in the courts; and equal access to justice."

NAWJ partners with Forster-Long, Inc. to provide statistics on U.S. State Court Women Judges (annual).

National Center for State Courts

National Center for State Courts (NCSC) states it is "an independent, non-profit organization."  It conducts research and consults on "current and emerging issues and trends in state court administration."

Information and Resources links to: Trending Topics; Companion Sites and issue-specific Resource Centers; and a searchable eCollection (archive that includes NCSC reports). 

Judicial Salary Tracker

Trends in State Courts (annual)

NCSC and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) jointly provide Court Statistics Project.  This site states it is "[t]he only source for comparable annual [U.S.] state court caseload data."

Court Statistics Project provides material under tabs: Court Statistics and Understanding State Courts.

United States Courts > Statistics & Reports

This section of the United States Courts website states it "provides statistical data and analysis on the business of the federal Judiciary."

Access United States Courts tab: Statistics & Reports.  Includes Judicial Business of the United States Courts (annual) and Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics (annual).

eBook: The Making of Lawyers' Careers