TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 12, 2023

The U.S. legal services sector added 5,100 jobs in June for a total of 1,185,100 legal jobs, nearing a high-water mark set in July 2022, Reuters reports. That month, the legal sector reached 1,187,900 jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the count includes a range of legal workers, but the majority are lawyers. Despite the overall job growth, at least a dozen large U.S. law firms have confirmed laying off lawyers, staff or both since November. Layoffs are being driven in part by a slowdown in the global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market. The total value of global M&A deals in the first six months of 2023 shrank to $1.3 trillion, a 37% drop compared to the first half of 2022, according to financial market data firm Refinitiv.