High-Speed Lifestyles
Today’s high-speed lifestyles have inspired new personal goals and needs. Specifically, this high pace has led to a need for high peace. The following charts reflect these changes.

What Americans Want
When asked how close they are to achieving “the American dream,” the average American said 6.1 on a scale of 1 to10. This response, recorded in 1999, was up from 5.7 in 1990. See the chart below for what Americans say they want from life.

Temp Lawyers Gaining Status
Lawyer temping appears to be the staffing industry's hottest segment at $300 million to $500 million per year. Annual growth is expected to be between 25% and 40%. Going by the name “wholesalers,” “temp lawyers,” or “contract attorneys,” these temps work fulltime, half-time, flex-time or even telecommute. Depending on experience, hourly rates range from $14 to $130. While small law firms find temps an attractive way to “try out” potential hires and to adjust their workforce at will, bigger firms also depend on this resource.  According to The National Law Journal’s 1998 survey of the nation’s 250 largest law firms, three firms reported that 10% or more of their attorneys were temps.

Side Effects of Drug Ads
A recent poll shows that 49% of physicians think direct-to-consumer advertising has helped educate and inform their patients, while 65% believe the ads have caused them problems with patients seeking drugs inappropriate for their illness.

Patients who talked with their doctors about a drug they had seen advertised, rose from 28% in 1998 to 37% in 1999. Fifty-one percent of these patients received a prescription for that drug.

E-commerce and the Job Market
E-commerce is having a huge effect on the job market. Below is a chart showing the jobs in highest demand and those whose time has come and gone.

Popular Colors for Vehicles
While white remains the most popular color for automotive vehicle buyers, “techno-colors” such as silver are gaining status. See the chart below. Almost 40% of shoppers will switch brands if they can’t have their color of choice.

Doctors Deceiving Insurers
Over one-third (39%) of doctors admit deceiving insurance companies to help patients get the healthcare they need, per a 1998 nationwide survey recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Thirty-seven percent of doctors said their patients “at least sometimes” asked them to deceive the insurer. Over one-quarter (28.5%) of doctors said that this dishonesty was necessary to “game” the system so they could provide high-quality care.

Motivations for E-Business
When asked why their companies were embarking on e-business initiatives, information technology professionals and business managers responded with the following reasons:

Men's Health
One-third (34%) of men will not seek the help of a doctor even if they are experiencing chest pain, per Men’s Health magazine. Only 10% say they are afraid of dying. Men are more afraid of going broke (30%), going to hell (28%), and public speaking (13%).

Twenty percent of men say they abstain from physical exercise. However, 71% would be motivated by heart disease; 65% by being out of breath after climbing stairs; 60% by no longer being able to button up their trousers in the morning. One-half (49%) say they would get in better shape if they thought it would bring them more sex.

In-House Lawyers Satisfied
In-house lawyers are satisfied, according to Corporate Counsel’s second annual Quality of Life Survey. Why did they choose in-house over a law firm? For most (77%), acquiring a healthier balance between work and personal life was a major part of this decision. Seventy percent said that this move had helped them gain that balance.

The majority (72%) are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their salary; almost as many (71%) said they had received a year-end bonus ($33,350 on average). Most (78%) also find their work interesting and rate it as “above average” or “fascinating.”

On the downside, these in-house attorneys say that there are only “average” or “below average” opportunities for advancement and few opportunities for minorities.

Bullets

• Seven out of 10 colleges now offer some form of distance education; 34% of these offer an accredited degree online.

   

• The top three U.S. cities with the highest proportion of avid baseball fans are Cleveland, OH (36%), St. Louis, MO (31%), and Atlanta, GA (25%).

   

• Which professions are the most respected? Americans think that scientists (73%), teachers (73%), clergy (72%) and farmers (72%) are the most honest and ethical.

• Practically all business travelers (98%) were members of frequent flyer clubs during 1999, up 4% from 1998. Each traveler had an average of 3.5 memberships.

• What would Americans do with an extra hour or two? Sixteen percent would like to use it sleeping; 8% would do nothing; 7% would watch more television; 6% would make love.

• Four years ago, only one in 10 Americans approved of same-sex marriages. Today, one in six approve and another 25% do not feel strongly one way or the other.

• When they see a stylish car, 47% of adults look at the driver to see if he/she is attractive.

• Four out of 10 business travelers say they would change airlines for more flexible luggage policies.

• In 1989, 20% of discharged managers and executives started new businesses; in 1999, only 7% started businesses.

• Fortune 500 companies have not generated any new net jobs since 1990, while smaller businesses have generated 22 million new jobs.

• Fifty-five percent of what we learn or perceive from other people comes from their body language; 38% comes from the tone of their voice; 7% is from their actual words.

• The average American executive takes 21 trips per year and spends 48 nights away from home. This is three nights more than last year.

• Most Americans (84%) say they have never cheated on their income taxes or on an expense account. However, 60% feel that lying is sometimes necessary to spare another’s feelings.

• Seventy-five percent of Americans go to a movie theater at least once a year; the average person goes at least five times a year. Hispanics average 11 visits per year and people age 12 to 24 make up 39% of total movie going attendance.

• According to Harris Interactive, over three quarters of American adults believe that big companies (84%), political action committees (83%) and the news media (77%) have too much power and influence in Washington, DC.

• An estimated 70,000 Americans are 100 years old or older. This number has tripled since 1980.

• Forty percent of Americans believe that genetically modified foods are safe, 38% do not.

• Farmers dedicated 1.3 million acres of farmland to organic production in 1997. This was double the amount in 1994, but still represents just 0.2% of all cropland.

• Over 1.5 million American children are terminally ill. The most frequent request they make through wish-group organizations is to visit Disney World and meet Mickey Mouse.

• Smoking one cigarette cuts 11 minutes off a person’s life span.

• Twenty-two percent of adults without health insurance are in families with annual income of $50,000 or more.

• Each year, golf attracts three million new players while losing just as many due to lack of time, money and interest.

• Over 44,000 patients die each year as a result of mistakes made by hospital staff. In comparison, 43,458 people die annually as a result of motor vehicle accidents and 42,297 from breast cancer.

• The top three courses that “regular” or “occasional” golfers say they would like to play are: Pebble Beach in California (37%), August National in Georgia (11%) and St. Andrews in Scotland (8%).

• Two-thirds (67%) of Americans say that technology has made life’s quick pace even more frantic. Sixty-two percent think new technology products often create more problems than they solve.

• Thirty percent of wireless telephone users say they would rather give up their home telephone than their wireless one. This is true for 45% of users age 18 to 34.

• Over 30% of Americans go online for national news at least once a week, compared to 20% in 1998. Another 15% receive daily reports via the Internet, up from 6% two years ago.

• The World Wide Web is estimated to have 550 billion searchable documents.

• Seventy-one percent of adults with Internet access log on when they arrive home at night; 25% of these stay on all evening. Fifty-two percent watch television while online.

• One in four American adults who uses the Internet, has looked up information on presidential candidates; 11% visited a candidate’s official website.

• Online revenue generated by North American retailers during 1999 totaled $33.1 billion. This was an increase of 120% from 1998. During 2000, growth is only expected to be 85%.

• Communication is the main reason 38% of Internet users go online; only 2% cite shopping or buying as their top reason.

• Most (69%) of business-to-consumer web sites are expected to be profitable by the end of 2000. One-third of business-to-business sites say they may never turn a profit or were not designed to in the first place.

• In 1999, Americans spent 274% more time online than they did in 1998. In 2000, their online time has decreased by 1% as compared to 1999.

• More than 75% of surfers use search engines to navigate the web. The top 10 search engines have 147 million unique visitors each month, this number grows over 10% each month.

• A recent survey shows that 20% of in-house attorneys think their bosses need to “give more pats on the back and public kudos.”

• A negative stereotype following young women attorneys into their career is that they will not bring in new business. In addition to seeking networking opportunities with potential clients, experts recommend that these women get on speaking panels, participate in legal education programs and write articles so they become known for their legal talent.

• Lateral hiring of associates is outpacing the number of entry-level attorneys hired by law firms. During 1998, 1.3 laterals were brought in for every entry-level attorney employed.

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