Malaysia’s legal profession is seeing signs of growth. The following is a breakdown of the statistics according to figures released in January by the Malaysian Bar.
1. The number of lawyers in Malaysia grew by 2% last year after declining slightly in 2008
Number of practitioners: growth in lawyer numbers resume
|
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
|
Total No of Practitioners
|
11926
|
11782
|
12443
|
12916
|
12906
|
13196
|
2. The number of smaller firms and sole proprietors also grew this year
Comparison of size of law practices
|
Year
|
|
Number of Lawyers
|
|
|
Sole Proprietors
|
2 to 5
|
6 to 10
|
11 to 20
|
21 to 30
|
>31
|
|
2004
|
3078
|
2275
|
173
|
42
|
12
|
13
|
|
2005
|
2981
|
2256
|
172
|
43
|
8
|
15
|
|
2006
|
2896
|
2372
|
190
|
53
|
6
|
18
|
|
2007
|
2891
|
2432
|
217
|
55
|
4
|
20
|
|
2008
|
2804
|
2397
|
228
|
56
|
11
|
16
|
|
2009
|
2867
|
2412
|
246
|
52
|
7
|
17
|
3. Fewer lawyers are staying in the profession for more than seven years
Breakdown by number of years in practice: a young profession
|
Year
|
< 7 years
|
7 to 12 years
|
> 12 years
|
|
2009
|
9568
|
1704
|
1924
|
|
2008
|
9312
|
1679
|
1915
|
4. Female lawyers are staying in the profession for a shorter time than their male counterparts
Breakdown by gender: experienced female lawyers are rare
|
|
2009
|
2008
|
|
Years in practice
|
Male
|
Female
|
Male
|
Female
|
|
Less than 7 years
|
4411
|
5157
|
4315
|
4997
|
|
More than 7 years
|
2506
|
1122
|
2473
|
1121
|
|
Total
|
6917
|
6279
|
6788
|
6118
|
Source: The Malaysian Bar