Many small firm trust and estate practitioners have told me that they are concerned about competition. I wanted to remind those small firm practitioners that the legal economy is so large that most attorneys don't ever have to worry about competition. Here are some statistics according to the U.S. Census Bureau to ease your minds: 1) U.S. Population 300M. 2) Over one-half of the population qualifies as a buyer of legal services as an individual. 3) 14.5M Americans are 65 and older as of year 2000. 4) 97.5M Americans are single or unmarried. 5) 54% of the unmarried group are women. 6) 63% of the 97.5M have never been married. 7) 23% of the 97.5M are divorced. 8) 14% of the 97.5 M Americans are widowed.
If you practice in Los Angeles County, California, this County's population is approximately 10 Million. Here is the rest of the stats for LA County:
Demographic Estimates - show more >> |
Estimate |
Percent |
U.S. |
Margin of Error |
|
Total population |
9,948,081 |
***** |
|||
Male |
4,927,030 |
49.5 |
49.2% |
+/-767 |
|
Female |
5,021,051 |
50.5 |
50.8% |
+/-767 |
|
Median age (years) |
33.9 |
(X) |
36.4 |
+/-0.2 |
|
Under 5 years |
741,942 |
7.5 |
6.8% |
***** |
|
18 years and over |
7,267,873 |
73.1 |
75.4% |
***** |
|
65 years and over |
1,013,339 |
10.2 |
12.4% |
+/-529 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One race |
9,658,799 |
97.1 |
98.0% |
+/-15,254 |
|
White |
4,660,343 |
46.8 |
73.9% |
+/-36,035 |
|
Black or African American |
883,699 |
8.9 |
12.4% |
+/-6,733 |
|
American Indian and Alaska Native |
49,164 |
0.5 |
0.8% |
+/-4,576 |
|
Asian |
1,288,643 |
13.0 |
4.4% |
+/-6,418 |
|
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander |
27,701 |
0.3 |
0.1% |
+/-2,849 |
|
Some other race |
2,749,249 |
27.6 |
6.3% |
+/-36,154 |
|
Two or more races |
289,282 |
2.9 |
2.0% |
+/-15,254 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) |
4,706,994 |
47.3 |
14.8% |
***** |
My estimate for the number of trusts and estates practitioners in Los Angeles County is approximately: 1000. If you are worried about competition, and ignored the population younger than 65, and only focused on the population over 65, just divide 1M by 1000. Need I say more?
Mina N. Sirkin, Esq. is a California Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California who practices in Los Angeles County, California. [email protected]. http://www.SirkinLaw.com.
