Moscow, April 26 - RAPSI, Vladimir Novikov. Over 65,000 lawyers work in Russia, Yevgeny Semenyako, the president of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers, said today at the 5th All-Russian Convention of Lawyers.

According to statistics, there is one lawyer for every 308 citizens in the United States. The ratio is 1:10, 700 in China. Meanwhile, the figure in Russia is 1: 2,000.

Semenyako said 13,000 people applied for a lawyer’s status in 2009-2010. Roughly 12,000 were allowed to take a qualifying examination and over 8,000 successfully passed the test.

However, he stressed that the actual increase in the number of lawyers was only about 2,500, as 5,500 stopped practicing as lawyers for various reasons during the same period.

He also said around one-third of all lawyers in Russia are under 35.

Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, for example, young people account for up to 40 percent of the total number of lawyers. This tendency proves that the legal profession is still popular in the country.

The convention is being held in Moscow. It is the supreme body of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers and is held at least once every two years.