Short answer
The Charleston-North Charleston, SC metro had 624 law offices with paid employees in 2023, employing 4,795 people with $474.8 million in payroll, according to Census County Business Patterns. Charleston County has 496 of them and 87% of the jobs; all four offices with 100 or more employees are there. The metro employs about 0.94 paralegals per lawyer, against 0.52 nationally. Check any South Carolina lawyer in the Judicial Branch's attorney search.
- 624 law offices, 4,795 employees and $474.8 million in payroll in the Charleston metro in 2023.
- Charleston County has 79% of the offices and 87% of the jobs; Berkeley and Dorchester share the rest.
- Law offices here pay an average of $99,021, 11% above South Carolina's $89,252.
- BLS counts 1,590 lawyers and 1,490 paralegals in the metro: nearly one paralegal per lawyer.
- The South Carolina Bar has more than 19,000 members, and membership has been tied to licensing since 1968.
On this page
This page covers Charleston, South Carolina, and the metro's three counties: Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester. It's for anyone choosing a local law firm, looking for legal work in the Lowcountry, or selling services to firms there.
The Charleston legal market in numbers
County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, offices of lawyers (NAICS 541110), Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area (CBSA 16700), with the state for comparison:
| Measure (2023) | Charleston metro | South Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Establishments | 624 | 2,590 |
| Employees (mid-March) | 4,795 | 16,264 |
| Annual payroll | $474,808,000 | $1,451,590,000 |
| Average employees per office | 7.7 | 6.3 |
| Average annual pay | $99,021 | $89,252 |
| Share of US law offices | 0.38% of 165,491 | 1.57% |
State averages are our calculation from the same dataset. The metro has 24% of South Carolina's law offices, and its offices are a little larger and better paid than the state's.
| County | Offices | Employees | Average employees | Average annual pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston County, South Carolina | 496 | 4,183 | 8.4 | $102,759 |
| Berkeley County, South Carolina | 68 | 268 | 3.9 | $80,989 |
| Dorchester County, South Carolina | 60 | 344 | 5.7 | $67,619 |
| Employees per office | Offices |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 415 |
| 5 to 9 | 125 |
| 10 to 19 | 44 |
| 20 to 49 | 28 |
| 50 to 99 | 8 |
| 100 or more | 4 (derived from the total; classes not published) |
The Census Bureau doesn't publish any size class above 99 employees for the metro; four offices fall there, and Charleston County's own figures account for all four. Two-thirds of offices have fewer than five employees.
CBP counts establishments with paid employees: a firm with offices downtown and in Mount Pleasant counts twice, and lawyers who practice alone without staff aren't counted. Owner-only practices show up instead in Nonemployer Statistics: 786 legal services businesses without payroll in the three counties in 2023, with $65.4 million in receipts between them. Some are title abstract and other non-law-office businesses, because that series uses the broader legal services code.
Nearly one paralegal per lawyer
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, May 2025) counts jobs by occupation across all employers in the metro:
| Occupation | Employed | Mean annual wage | Median annual wage | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | 1,590 | $149,310 | $127,280 | 0.83 |
| Paralegals and legal assistants | 1,490 | $58,570 | $57,030 | 1.49 |
That's 0.94 paralegals per lawyer, against 0.52 nationally. Statewide the ratio is the same, with 7,890 lawyers and 7,420 paralegals, so this is a South Carolina pattern rather than a Charleston quirk. Lawyers are a smaller share of local jobs than nationally (location quotient 0.83), while paralegals are a much larger one (1.49). The lawyer estimate has a relative standard error of 9.7%, and OEWS doesn't count self-employed lawyers or partners who own their firms.
Checking a South Carolina lawyer
- The Judicial Branch's attorney search. The South Carolina Judicial Branch lists attorneys licensed in the state, searchable by name or bar number, with phone and address.
- Discipline. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel screens and investigates complaints against lawyers and judges.
- The bar. The South Carolina Bar has more than 19,000 members. A voluntary bar association was formed in 1884; in 1968 a mandatory State Bar was created for licensing and discipline, and the Supreme Court merged the two in 1975. Its lawyer referral and legal help page is the place to start if you don't have a name.
- Local. The Charleston County Bar Association runs a member directory that doubles as a public lawyer search.
Ask any firm you're considering who will handle the work day to day. In a market with this many paralegals, much of the file may be prepared by one, which can lower your bill.
Selling to Charleston law firms
With 584 of 624 offices under 20 employees, most Charleston firms buy like small businesses: a partner says yes, often on the recommendation of the senior paralegal or office manager who will use the product. The 40 offices with 20 or more employees, nearly all in Charleston County, have a firm administrator and a slower sign-off. Paralegals are the user, and often the champion, for anything that touches case files, records or scheduling.
Illustrative example. A fictional vendor, with invented rates and results.
Marsh Records (marshrecords.example) retrieves medical and employment records for injury and workers' compensation cases. It targets metro offices with 5 to 49 employees: 125 + 44 + 28 = 197. If an estimated 40% handle injury or compensation work, that's about 79 offices. Writing to the litigation paralegal at each, a 6% reply rate gives five conversations, and two or three trial orders a quarter. Small numbers, but in a market this size one satisfied paralegal tends to tell the next. To find the injury practices and the right paralegal at each, Bebop researches every office in the list.
Subject: Records requests for [firm]'s injury cases Hi [first name], Chasing medical records is usually the slowest part of getting an injury case to demand. We handle the requests, follow-ups and certification for Lowcountry firms and post the records to a secure folder as they arrive. If you send me one open request you're waiting on, we'll run it at no charge so you can judge the turnaround. [Your name] [Company], [postal address]
The guide to selling to law firms covers the confidentiality questions to prepare for.
Charleston sources
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| SC Judicial Branch attorney search | Contact details for every lawyer licensed in South Carolina |
| South Carolina Bar | The state bar: membership, lawyer referral and legal help |
| Charleston County Bar Association | The county bar and its member directory |
| Charleston School of Law | The local law school and a source of new associates and clerks |
| Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce | The regional business network |
| Charleston Regional Development Alliance | The region's economic development organization |
There's no SEC-registered, exchange-listed legal services company (SIC 8111) based in the metro either.
Next step: turn the segment into named firms and contacts with how to build a prospect list.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Nonemployer Statistics, 2023 (NAICS 5411, metropolitan areas), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- May 2025 Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
- May 2025 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
- Attorney Search, South Carolina Judicial Branch, accessed 30 October 2026
- About the Bar, South Carolina Bar, accessed 30 October 2026
- Charleston County Bar Association, Charleston County Bar Association, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many law firms are there in Charleston, SC?
The Census Bureau counted 624 law offices with paid staff across the Charleston-North Charleston metro in 2023, employing 4,795 people. Charleston County had 496, Berkeley County 68 and Dorchester County 60. Offices of firms with several locations count separately, and lawyers practicing alone without staff aren't included; another 786 legal services businesses in the metro have no employees.
What are the biggest law firms in Charleston?
Census data doesn't name firms, but it shows only four law offices in the Charleston metro had 100 or more employees in 2023, all in Charleston County, and 36 more had 20 to 99. Some are local firms and some are offices of regional firms based elsewhere. A firm's own website lists the lawyers in its Charleston office; check the date and compare like with like.
How do I look up a lawyer in South Carolina?
Use the attorney search on the South Carolina Judicial Branch website, sccourts.org, which covers lawyers licensed in the state and can be searched by first name, last name or bar number. Results give contact details such as phone and address. Complaints about lawyers go to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel. The South Carolina Bar also offers a lawyer referral service.
Is South Carolina Bar membership mandatory?
South Carolina created a mandatory State Bar for attorney licensing and discipline in 1968, and the Supreme Court merged it with the older voluntary association in 1975 to form today's South Carolina Bar, according to the Bar's own history. The Bar says it has more than 19,000 members practicing in South Carolina, across the country and abroad.
How much do paralegals make in Charleston, SC?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the mean annual wage for paralegals and legal assistants in the Charleston-North Charleston metro at $58,570 in May 2025, with a median of $57,030. There were about 1,490 of them, nearly as many as the metro's 1,590 employed lawyers, whose mean wage was $149,310. Paralegals' location quotient of 1.49 shows they're unusually common here.