Hierarchy in Legal Profession
    Statistically, according to the Curran study, the employmentdistributions of lawyers in 1980 reflected the following breakdowns.A majority of lawyers, or 68. 39% in 1980 were in private practice,with half in "solo" practice. A total of 3.7% work for the federalgovernment. Only 5% are in federal judiciary and 10. 1% in privateindustry.  Working  in  education  are  1. 2%.However,  theemployment distribution viewed in terms of numbers and percentagesdoes not accurately address the issue of the allocation of power andprestige within these practice areas suggested by the discussionabove.

    The American contemporary legal profession was largelyconstructed between the 1870's and 1950's and has developed as aself-defining, self-regulating profession. Through the developmentof local, state and national bar associations,' the promulgation ofethics codes," disciplinary rules and procedures, and the definitionand tightening of the entrance requirements to law schools, the legalprofession was able to control the supply of lawyers and limit accessand entry into the profession. Until the 1960's, the legal professionwas overwhelmingly and predominantly white, male, and in thehigher echelons of the professional hierarchy, solidly“WASP"(White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant).，In fact,“for much of ourhistory, lawyer meant‘White Male'. Not a single woman wasadmitted to the bar before the一870's, and precious few blacks"。1872, Myra Bradwell, in her challenge to the State of Illinois' denialof her application to become a member of the bar, was told by theSupreme Court of the United States the“paramount destiny andmission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wifeand mother.