comPLiaNce – tHetHirdareaofLeGaLPracticeiNtHeuNitedstates labor & employment law section Co-Chairs: YvetteEverhart – Sass, Everhart & Silva, P. A. & BenBriggs – AdamsandReeseLLP
thelitigatinglawyerand transactionallawyerhave anewcolleague, the compliancelawyer.
The legal profession in colonial America had a difficult beginning as colonists resented everything English, including the English common law. 1 As a result, there were few lawyers in the colonies, and the law was shaped by theologians, politicians, farmers and fishermen. As the Civil War approached, acceptance of lawyers grew. The typical lawyer of this era was a professional showman. Thus, the first area of legal practice in the United States was born, the litigating lawyer. 2
In the post-Civil War era, the United States economy changed from an agricultural to an industrial economy, an era known as the Industrial Revolution. 3 In 1869, the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad reduced the travel time for goods from the east coast to the west coast from six months to two weeks. 4 As a result, merchants and farmers needed to formalize their business transactions with written contracts 5. The Industrial Revolution and the Transcontinental Railroad led to the second area of legal practice in the United States, the transactional lawyer. 6
The two areas of legal practice for lawyers remained unchanged as federal regulation of the United States’ private sector economy
began to grow during the late 1800s. Various forms of federal regulatory interventions such as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the Federal Trade Commission of 1914, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Environmental Protection Agency of 1970, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of 1971 ushered in a new era of government regulation in the United States. 7 This phenomena led to the third area of legal practice in the United State, the compliance lawyer.
Compliance lawyers may be employed by the government regulator or the regulated entity. The primary responsibility of the regulated entity compliance officer is to ensure that their organizations operate within government regulations and to represent their organization when regulators come calling. Responsibilities include communicating with government regulators, developing policies and procedures, training staff, investigating compliance-related violations, and representing the regulating entity when compliance fails. Entities such as banks, insurance companies, hospitals, and technology firms handling personal data employ significant numbers of compliance lawyers. 8
Compliance is a rewarding career path for lawyers who are methodical, patient, consistent, and who find satisfaction in building and monitoring systems rather than winning in the courtroom. 9 Not all compliance positions require a law degree. As such, compliance positions are often referred to as JD-advantaged positions. Per the National Association of Law Placement( NALP) Survey, law school graduates who became compliance officers in 2024 earned an average of $ 82,000 per year. 10 According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 33,300 new compliance positions will be available during the next decade due to workforce transitions, retirements, and ever-increasing government regulation. 11 In the United States, compliance is projected to remain as one of the three areas of legal practice well into the future. 12 n
1
Anton-Hermann Chroust, The Rise of the Legal Profession in America 5( 1965).
2
Lisa G. Lerman, et al., Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law 40( 7th ed. 2025). continuedonpage47
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