Hiring from Top Law Schools Steady, Hiring from Lower Ranked Law Schools Down

Graduate School Law School
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<p>The following are some exerpts from an article in the National Law Journal:</p>

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Hiring From Top Schools Holds Steady in '08

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Despite the economic nosedive that began gaining momentum in 2008, the nation's biggest law firms hired just about the same percentage of graduates from top schools last year as they did the year before.

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The development suggests that law firms were not well-positioned for the recession they now face. It also suggests that although firms relied on the most prestigious schools to about the same degree in 2008, they pulled back their recruiting at schools outside the top 20.

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Also in 2008, NLJ 250 law firms hired 5.3% more graduates from those 20 law schools that they relied on the most. Those law schools sent 3,696 of their total 6,771 juris doctor graduates to NLJ 250 firms. The top 20 schools in 2007 sent 3,511 of their total 6,395 juris doctor graduates to NLJ 250 firms.

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The fact that law firms ended up hiring the same percentage of graduates in 2008 — and hired 5.3% more graduates than in 2007 — despite the impending economic turmoil demonstrates the challenges that law firms face in predicting their work force needs under the existing hiring system. Most first-year associates at large firms come from the pool of summer associates who interview with the firms two years before their working start dates.</p>

<p>Bill Henderson, a professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law — Bloomington who studies law firms, said the current economic problems should force big law firms to rethink the traditional hiring model.

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Of late, however, attrition has not been the problem for law firms. Rather, they now find that they have too many hands on deck. On a single day, Feb. 12, large law firms laid off more than 700 attorneys and legal staffers because of declines in business. Firms that interviewed law students in 2006 for summer associate positions and hired those people full time in 2008 have discovered their ranks bloated amid the downturn.

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The go-to school list does not account for students taking judicial clerkships after graduation rather than joining law firms.

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<p>Hundreds upon hundreds of associates have lost their jobs across the country, from firms big and small, in the last 6-8 months. Just today, for example, Latham and Watkins announced that they fired 140 attorneys. In addition, several firms of which I’m aware have cancelled or scaled back their summer associate programs (after students accepted positions, likely turning down other offers in order to to do) and have demanded that incoming first years (for next autumn after graduation and then the bar exam this summer) not report to work until January 2010 or later. The news is not good and is getting worse.</p>

<p>The point of posting this article was to emphasize that for anyone who thinks they are going to go to law school and automatically make a six-figure salary after graduation, they need to think long and hard about that assumption. Not only is it increasingly less likely that students from law school outside of the T14 will get those jobs, but it is going to become more competitive and difficult for even students in the T14 to get them. Holding on to those jobs once you have them will be yet another challenge.</p>

<p>The legal newspapers around the country are publishing story after story about young attorneys who cannot afford to pay their student loans, either because they have lost their jobs or because they cannot find jobs that pay well enough to support their student loan payments plus their living expenses. </p>

<p>Think long and hard about the amount of student loans you will need to get through law school, as well as where you see yourself after graduation, before going to law school. I think that law school is a fantastic experience, and you should absolutely go if you are sure of your intentions, but just look before you leap. Know what is out there.</p>