Israel Matzav

Being a lawyer in Israel

I frequently get emails from people asking how they can work as lawyers in Israel. I don't believe in painting any picture but the truth. It's kind of tough right now. This ought to give you some idea.

In the past six months, the ratio of jobseekers to positions offered has risen to ten to one.

Data on the oversupply of lawyers in Israel is disrupting the sleep of many in the profession. In the past decade, Israel has become the country with the highest number of lawyers in relation to its population, the number of lawyers hired by law firms in the past nine years nearly equals the number of lawyer hired in Israel's first 50 years. Within 19 years, the number of lawyers in Israel rose nearly four-fold from 10,697 in 1990 to 40,469 at the beginning of 2009.

The Israel Bar Association is not prepared to countenance this and it is at the forefront of efforts to halt the deterioration in the legal profession and restore its lost prestige. Its proposals include extending internships to two years, requiring entrance exams into specific fields, and setting up schools for specialized fields where candidates will study for qualifying exams.

However, the path toward implementing these proposals is a very long one, and passes through the hands of the minister of the justice and the legislature, which are no hurry to go anywhere. Meanwhile, while the legislature deliberates, thousands of unemployed lawyers are wandering around the market. They are joined by 3,500 new colleagues every year, who celebrate joining the bar and jump head first into the competitive market.

The global economic crisis is also contributing to the problem. Figures collated by the Bar Association's jobs center, which has provided a free placement service lawyers for lawyers since 2004, indicate that competition for jobs in the law market is fierce. During the first half of 2009, 3,602 applied to the jobs center, compared with 2,130 in all of 2008.

Before 2008, when the Israeli economy became more exposed to the crisis, the increase in the number of jobseeking lawyers was gradual and barely felt. In 2006, 1,461 lawyers applied to the jobs center, and the number increased by just 33 lawyers in 2007, to 1,494.

Read the whole thing.

Why we have a glut of lawyers is a testimony to greed. It used to be nearly impossible to get into law school here, with the result that a lot of children of judges and high priced lawyers had to go abroad (mostly to England) to study. In the '90's, several non-university faculties were opened to allow these spoiled rich kids to study in Israel. The kids get taken into Daddy's firm (it's usually Daddy's firm although today many of the kids are girls) anyway, so they don't suffer the consequences of the glut. But the rest of us do, because the non-university law schools led to the glut.

Anyone who wants to know more can email me privately.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:54 PM