Statistics
Tennessee has 6 laws schools which turn out between seven hundred (700) and eight hundred (800) new attorneys each year. Additionally, Tennessee residents that attend law school in other states routinely return to take the Tennessee Bar, which equates to between eight hundred (800) and one thousand (1,000) new lawyers obtaining licenses each year in the worst legal job market in history.
In 2016, the State of Tennessee had eighteen thousand two hundred eighty-eight (18,288) active and resident lawyers. This number ONLY includes attorneys who are currently practicing law and have an active law license. For perspective, that is the highest number of active licensed attorneys in Tennessee history.
In 2014, based upon the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the State Government Labor Department, only seven thousand nine hundred ninety (7,990) of those lawyers with an active law license were employed. To put that number into context, Tennessee ranks forty-nine (49) out of fifty (50) states for attorney employment percentage.