Market data
Criminal defense in North Carolina: market data
What public records say about the market for criminal defense in North Carolina: how much demand the courts and agencies count, how many law offices serve it, how many people need help in Spanish, and the ad rules that apply. Every number links to the record it comes from.
Demand: what courts and agencies count
Counts of filings, crashes, complaints and enforcement in the records each agency keeps. A count shows where problems were recorded, not how many people will hire a lawyer.
| Measure | Value | Period | Place | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal criminal defendants charged | 1,512 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | North Carolina state | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal drug defendants | 343 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | North Carolina state | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal fraud defendants | 123 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | North Carolina state | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal immigration-offense defendants | 100 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | North Carolina state | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal criminal defendants charged | 881 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Eastern District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCE:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal drug defendants | 221 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Eastern District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCE:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal fraud defendants | 60 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Eastern District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCE:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal immigration-offense defendants | 27 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Eastern District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCE:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal criminal defendants charged | 253 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Middle District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCM:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal drug defendants | 53 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Middle District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCM:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal fraud defendants | 22 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Middle District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCM:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal immigration-offense defendants | 12 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Middle District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCM:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal criminal defendants charged | 378 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Western District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCW:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal drug defendants | 69 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Western District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCW:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal fraud defendants | 41 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Western District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCW:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Federal immigration-offense defendants | 61 defendants | 12 months ending 2026-06-30 | Western District of North Carolina federal district | criminal-filings v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206 record criminal-filings:NCW:2026-06-30 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
Rising or falling
The change between the last two periods each source publishes. No threshold and no smoothing.
| Measure | Before | Latest | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal criminal defendants charged North Carolina · record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 | 1,768 2025-12-31 | 1,512 2026-06-30 | falling (-14.5%) |
| Federal drug defendants North Carolina · record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 | 397 2025-12-31 | 343 2026-06-30 | falling (-13.6%) |
| Federal fraud defendants North Carolina · record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 | 132 2025-12-31 | 123 2026-06-30 | falling (-6.8%) |
| Federal immigration-offense defendants North Carolina · record criminal-filings:state-NC:2026-06-30 | 109 2025-12-31 | 100 2026-06-30 | falling (-8.3%) |
Lawyer supply
How many law offices and lawyers the federal statistics count here.
| Measure | Value | Period | Place | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New lawyers admitted | 1,261 lawyers a year | 2025 | North Carolina state | bar-pipeline v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721443 record nc-bar-pipeline · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Counties under 1 law office per 10,000 residents | 6 counties | 2026-Q1 | North Carolina state | deserts v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721430 record deserts-37 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Counties with no law office | 2 counties | 2026-Q1 | North Carolina state | deserts v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721430 record deserts-37 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Residents living in those low-office counties | 1 percent of residents | 2026-Q1 | North Carolina state | deserts v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721430 record deserts-37 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Employer law firms | 3,830 firms | 2022 | North Carolina state | law-firm-economy v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23739997 record lfe-nc-all · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Receipts of employer law firms | 6,227,035,000 US dollars | 2022 | North Carolina state | law-firm-economy v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23739997 record lfe-nc-all · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Law offices per 10,000 residents | 4.87 per 10,000 residents | 2026-Q1 | North Carolina state | law-offices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721415 record law-offices-37 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Self-employed lawyers (nonemployer firms) | 5,478 firms | latest Nonemployer Statistics year | North Carolina state | law-offices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721415 record law-offices-37 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Private law offices | 5,451 establishments | 2026-Q1 | North Carolina state | law-offices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721415 record law-offices-37 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Lawyers employed (wage-earning, BLS OEWS) | 17,000 jobs | May 2025 | North Carolina state | lawyer-wages v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734840 record lawyer-wages:NC:231011:2025 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Median annual wage of employed lawyers | 127,710 US dollars a year | May 2025 | North Carolina state | lawyer-wages v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734840 record lawyer-wages:NC:231011:2025 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
Spanish-language demand
People who speak Spanish and speak English less than very well, and the lawyers who speak Spanish, from the Census Bureau survey (with margins of error).
| Measure | Value | Period | Place | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers who speak Spanish at home (ACS) | 560 ±210 lawyers | 2020-2024 | North Carolina state | language v1.1.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23656758 record language:state:NC:lawyers-spanish · status P · checked 2026-10-25 |
| Spanish speakers with limited English per Spanish-speaking lawyer | 657 ±246 people per lawyer | 2020-2024 | North Carolina state | language v1.1.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23656758 record language:state:NC:lep-per-spanish-lawyer · status P · checked 2026-10-25 |
| Spanish speakers with limited English (ACS) | 367,905 ±6,530 people age 5+ | 2020-2024 | North Carolina state | language v1.1.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23656758 record language:state:NC:spanish-lep · status P · checked 2026-10-25 |
| Spanish speakers with limited English | 367,905 ±6,517 people age 5+ | 2020-2024 | North Carolina state | legal-need v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23741886 record legal-need-nc · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
Ad rules that apply
The rules a law firm's ads in North Carolina have to meet, summarized from the official texts. The full rules, with quotes, are on the state page.
| Topic | Status | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Ad filing or review | P primary source | No filing or advance review. The rules let a lawyer communicate information about services through any media (7.2(a)). The State Bar says it need not review a website before launch. official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Required content | P primary source | Any communication includes the name and contact information of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content (7.2(d)). Contact information means a website address, telephone number, email address or physical office location (comment [9]). official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Waiting periods for contact | P primary source | The rules set no waiting period. Rule 7.3 bars live person-to-person solicitation for pecuniary gain with exceptions (7.3(b)), and bars solicitation of someone who said no or by coercion, duress or harassment (7.3(c)). The solicitation statute, G.S. official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Claims and results | P primary source | A lawyer cannot make a false or misleading communication, including a statement likely to create an unjustified expectation about results or an unsubstantiated comparison with other lawyers (7.1). official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Paying for referrals | P primary source | A lawyer cannot compensate, give or promise anything of value for recommending the lawyer's services, except to pay reasonable advertising costs, the usual charges of an intermediary organization that complies with Rule 7.4 or a State Bar-regulated prepaid… official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Call recording | P primary source | Intercepting a wire, oral or electronic communication is a felony unless at least one party to the communication consents. official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Texting | P primary source | A telephone subscriber who receives a solicitation that violates the Telephone Solicitation article (do-not-call registry, prerecorded-call limits in § 75-104, hours) may sue to enjoin it and recover $500, $1,000 or $5,000 depending on the violation count. official source · rules v1.4.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23750572 · checked 2026-10-28 |
| Ad filing or review | P primary source | North Carolina: no filing or review of lawyer ads is required. official source · filing v1.2.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721409 · checked 2026-10-25 |
| Paying for referrals | P primary source | Lawyers in different firms may split a fee in proportion to the work each does, or if each takes joint responsibility for the representation. official source · referral v1.1.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23747113 · checked 2026-10-27 |
Prices and pay (national)
| Measure | Value | Period | Place | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jobs in legal services (seasonally adjusted) | 1,249 thousand jobs | 2026-09 | United States United States | legal-prices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734854 record legal-prices:CES6054110001:2026-09 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| CPI-U: legal services | 230 index | 2026-09 | United States United States | legal-prices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734854 record legal-prices:CUUR0000SEGC01:2026-09 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| PPI: offices of lawyers | 338 index | 2026-09 | United States United States | legal-prices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734854 record legal-prices:PCU541110541110:2026-09 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
| PPI: criminal legal services | 102 index | 2023-03 | United States United States | legal-prices v1.0.0 doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734854 record legal-prices:PCU541110541110B:2023-03 · status P · checked 2026-10-28 |
What is missing
Datasets linked to this practice that have no figure here, and values the source withholds. We never fill these in.
- state-courts (demand): the dataset has no records for North Carolina (it covers other places)
- ca-courts (demand): the dataset has no records for North Carolina (it covers other places)
- firm-web-census (supply): the dataset has no records for North Carolina (it covers other places)
Download and cite
The rows behind this page, with every dataset, version, DOI, record id and check date.
Cite as: Probative Growth, The new-lawyer pipeline by jurisdiction: bar exam pass rates and new admissions, 2025 v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721443); Federal criminal cases by offense and district (U.S. Courts Tables D-1, D-2 and D-3) v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23744206); Legal deserts: law offices and lawyers per resident in every U.S. county v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721430); Spanish-speaking demand vs Spanish-speaking lawyer supply, by state and metro v1.1.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23656758); Law firm size, solos and receipts, by state: Census SUSB 2022, Nonemployer Statistics 2024 and Economic Census 2022 v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23739997); Law offices, jobs and pay by county, with solo-practice counts: BLS QCEW, Census CBP and Nonemployer Statistics v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23721415); Lawyer, paralegal and legal-staff pay by state and metro (BLS OEWS) v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734840); Legal need by county: who may need a lawyer, from the American Community Survey v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23741886); Legal-services prices and jobs, monthly (BLS CPI, PPI and CES) v1.0.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.23734854); CC BY 4.0. https://probativegrowth.com/markets/north-carolina/criminal-defense/
Use it in your AI tool
The same answers come from our free MCP server for AI assistants (no account): https://probativegrowth.com/mcp/markets
How this page is built
Each figure is copied from one record of the dataset named with it, joined to this state and practice through the open practice and place crosswalk. Nothing is estimated. Methods, inputs and limits.