Actually, this is a hard call to make since the downsizing at headquarters began in 1999 and the figures at hand are nearly ten years old.
The latest definitive information for the United States that I have goes back to 2003 and is found in the April 8, 2003 (signed by Don A. Adams, President) Amended and Restated Charter of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.
Although the name, "Leslie Long," is not found on the 2003 list that was included in that Restated Charter, a list that contains the names of 18 attorneys, Attorney Long was working for the Legal Dept. when we were at Bethel.
The page reads:
The names and addreses of attorneys admitted to practice in the State of New York who have, in the past year, made commitments to Watch Tower to provide legal services are:
William R. Bell, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, NY 12563
Christine Benham, 275 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, Connecticut 06437
Philip Brumley, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Max Custer, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Michelle Dickinson, 27 Hudson Watch Drive, Ossining, New York 10562
Lisa Douglas, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Robert C. James, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Richard King, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Adam Linett, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
James M. McCabe, 4817 Santa Monica Avenue, Suite B, San Diego, California 92017
John Miller III, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Richard Moake, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Mario F. Moreno, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Erna Neufeld, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Paul D. Polidoro, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Donald T. Ridley, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Carolyn R. Wah, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York 12563
Attorneys Bell, Brumley, James, McCabe, Moreno, Olds, Polidoro, Ridley, and Wah have been representing the Watch Tower the longest, especially Ridley. Brumley runs the Legal Department and has done so even before the Society put him through law school.
Bell, Brumley, James, McCabe, Ridley, and Wah were at Brooklyn Bethel when we were. Since 2003, I'm sure that other attorneys have come on board as well as some on the list probably have gone their own way. Not to be overlooked are many support people working in Legal such as paralegals and secretaries.
Note that three attorneys on the list don't live at headquarters. Furthermore, there are other JW attorneys around the US that will do work in their area for the Society if asked.
When I was in Bethel, it appeared to me that the Writing Department and the Service Department were larger than the Legal Department. There were about 6 or 7 attorneys living at Bethel in the early 1990s compared to the 15 living at Patterson in 2003.
Back then, in the Writing Dept., included with the writers, there were also many support people, totaling up to around 25 in the department. (Service Dept. probably had about the same number of personnel as Writing.) But now, it would appear to me that there would be less need for writers and their support personnel since the Society decreased the amount of literature and pages published. Consequently, when counting in support personnel, it could be that Legal has more people than Writing in that according to recent reports of law suits, these have not abated but increased since 2003.
If I'm correct in my assumptions, what irony and absurdity this is for a religion to have a greater need for secular lawyers than for religious editorial writers.
Barbara