The American Bar Association (ABA) recently published is fifth annual Profile of the Legal Profession report. The 2023 report marks the first time that the ABA report examines access to civil legal aid in the U.S.

Key findings in the 2023 Profile of the Legal Profession Report include the following:

• There are more than 10,000 paid civil legal aid lawyers across the country, but significant differences exist among states and even within states.
• Even accounting for differences in population and poverty rates, some states have many legal aid lawyers per 10,000 residents in poverty (for example, New York, Minnesota and Maine) and some have few (for example, Mississippi, Arizona and Georgia).
• New York City alone has more than 1,000 paid legal aid lawyers — roughly one-tenth of the nation’s total, even though it has less than 3% of the nation’s population.
• Rural towns and counties have roughly half the number of legal aid lawyers per capita than urbanized cities.

The report also provides insights on pro bono services, legal education, wages, demographics in the legal profession, judges, well-being, technology and women in the legal profession.

The 2023 American Bar Association Profile of the Legal Profession report is available online here: https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/news/2023/potlp-2023.pdf.