The difficult system of law of the USA, traditionally high role of legal regulation of life of a society, predetermine an exclusive place of legal estate in comparison with other professional groups.
In the USA is (all data in a note on the end of 1990th years) about 986 thousand lawyers, the overwhelming which majority have passed the admission in legal profession and hold a patent the lawyer a necessary condition for any form of practical activities of the lawyer; only for scientifically-teaching work there is no necessity for the lawyer patent though many lawyers-scientists in the beginning of the career prefer to undergo admission procedure in legal profession on a case of transition to practical work.
All legal estate can be broken into three categories: the lawyers-experts which are engaged in work, directly connected with the right; persons with the diploma of the lawyer, carrying out functions, it is direct with the right not connected; the lawyers who are engaged in scientifically teaching activity.
From the first category of lawyers the largest professional group privately practicing lawyers; them in the USA more than 700 thousand persons.
Legal advisers of the corporations which are regular employees getting wages of legal services of enterprise units are allocated by all powers of lawyers; they make more than 10 % from total number of lawyers. Many public organizations with the corporation status, that is the legal person have the lawyers also. For example, wide popularity in business of protection of the rights of black citizens was received by Legal fund of National association of assistance to development of the black population. Being originally legal consultation service of this public organization, the fund has extended and nowadays occupies independent position in relation to it.
The big group lawyers of official bodies regular employees legal consultation services of departments of executive power, administrative agencies, local authorities, a legislature, and also employees and heads of bodies state form charges, lawyers of departments "public defenders" which activity is paid from the state budget. Police officers and bodies the investigations even having the diploma of the lawyer, under the standards accepted in the American legal estate, are not considered as lawyers though workers of their legal services (in FBI, for example, is own legal consultation department) are considered as lawyers. The largest state "legal firm" is the Ministry of Justice, managed "the main lawyer" the governments general