«In 2023, the number of practicing lawyers registered with the Cassa Forense decreased by 1.8%.“, equal to “around 4,000 fewer professionals, concentrated above all in Southern Italy (-3.3%) and in particular in Calabria (-4.8%) and Basilicata (-4.7%)», so that the total number «fell from 225,513 in 2022 to 221,523» last year. This was underlined by the president of the Italian Association of Corporate Lawyers Antonello Martinez, in a note in which he speaks of «a physiological decline for a country, ours, which has the highest density of lawyers in Europe. Only in Luxembourg, Cyprus and Greece are there more», while «among the large European nations we are in first place with almost 400 lawyers for every 100,000 inhabitants, a figure that drops to 300 for Spain, 200 for Germany and 100 for France».
Going against the trend, we read, is Lombardy, which is the only region with an increase in lawyers, “albeit by 1%, equal to over 300 more professionals”.
The decline in members, Martinez observes, “in Puglia, Calabria and Sicily has increased the average income of lawyers, which still remains 40-50% lower than the national average (44,654 euros)”. At the opposite end, it is emphasized, Valle d’Aosta has seen a decline of 3.7%, with the average income falling from 54,059 to 52,039 euros”. The president of the association, finally, observes that we are faced with “an overcrowded national market, where large business law firms are concentrated between Milan and Rome, with a process of aggregations that is still underway, and a fragmentation in the rest of the country that does not guarantee incomes at the levels of other European countries. There are also many lawyers who work in companies – he concludes – but it is a different world from the freelance profession”, the note concludes.
