Lawsuit Abuse Fortnightly #2-12 (pdf)

If you add up all the money trial lawyers in the U.S. "earn" each year, how would it compare to, say, Microsoft – the giant software company – or other megacorporations? Most law firms are private partnerships so detailed information about the size of the litigation industry is difficult to come by, but James R. Copland, director of the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute, has come up with an estimate. "Given that 19 percent of all tort costs go to plaintiffs' attorneys," he writes, "we can imagine a corporation called Trial Lawyers, Inc. which rakes in almost $40 billion per year in revenues--50 percent more than Microsoft or Intel and twice those of Coca-Cola." Trial Lawyers, Inc., Copland says, "might well be the most profitable business in the world."