THE RECORD - New York City Bar Association

R E C Y C L E D P A P E R I N T H E L E G A L C O M M U N I T Y
per, and in particular printing and writing paper, continues to soar, the
utilization rate of wastepaper remains insignificant, regardless of its rate
of diversion from the waste stream. The failure of the utilization rate to
match the diversion rate, much less the generation rate, is attributable to
a lack of demand for recycled paper. Because the waste stream consists
predominantly of paper, it is axiomatic that major consumers of paper,
such as lawyers, can play a significant role in alleviating problems associated
with waste disposal by increasing the utilization rate of paper diverted
from the waste stream.
2. IMPACT OF LAWYERS ON THE PAPER INDUSTRY
The impact of lawyers on the generation of paper waste, particularly
with respect to printing and writing and office paper, cannot be ignored.
In 1994, the American Bar Association estimated that each lawyer uses,
on average, 1 ton of paper per year. 26 With nearly 800,000 attorneys in
the United States, as much as 800,000 tons of paper are used annually by
lawyers. 27 In the State of New York alone, there are over 109,000 attorneys,
7,000 of whom were newly admitted in 1997. 28
The enormous consumption of paper by lawyers is also demonstrated
by the number of cases filed in the court system. In 1992, more than
265,000 cases were filed in the federal district courts and nearly 72,000
additional cases were filed in the federal appellate courts. 29 In 1991, 94
million additional cases were filed in state trial courts nationwide. 30
In the State of New York, there were over 3,350,000 new filings in the
trial courts in 1994. 31 This number solely represents initial filings and
does not include the number of filings after an action has been commenced,
e.g. motion practice. An additional 10,788 records were filed on
appeal and a total of 249 cases were disposed of in the Court of Appeals. 32
If one were to estimate conservatively that each new filing averaged
10 pages in length, new filings alone would account for tens of millions
26. ABA Journal, April 1991, p. 33.
27. Knopf, supra at p. 371.
28. New York State Office Of Court Administration, Division of Attorney Registration.
29. Knopf, supra at pp. 370-71.
30. Id.
31. New York State Office of Court Administration.
32. Id.
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