Summary: The latest data is showing that the highest number of law school students since the recession are entering into summer associate programs and receiving full-time job offers.
With smaller class sizes at law schools, there are fewer graduates entering the job market. The National Association for Law Placement reports that the fewer numbers to choose from has driven recruitment numbers up, making the top law firms scurry to find top talent to fill their spots.
Read How Dual-Degree Options Help Law School Graduates to learn how graduates are improving their chances of finding a job.
This urgency by law firms to land the top talent has not happened since before the recession several years ago. As executive director of the NALP Jim Leipold explains, “After a period of considerable and prolonged slowdown in law student recruiting volumes, for the last two years we have seen strong markers of recovery.”
Some schools have their own data showing improvements like the University of New Mexico Law School Reveals Higher Employment Rates.
Even with higher summer associate recruitment demands and hiring cycles, it is expected that fewer law students will land jobs through on campus interviews. This used to be way that a large portion of graduates would secure their jobs after graduation but the market has changed. The recession took away a lot of jobs and has stopped a lot of continued growth. Leipold says, “The law firm job growth has flat lined and many not be coming back. Business is where those jobs have moved to.”
This article, Employment Prospect for New Lawyers is Looking Up, is another example of improving numbers.
The Class of 2014 has seen the highest employment numbers since 2007 with 86.7 percent finding jobs within ten months of graduation. With smaller class sizes at law schools, it is believed that the next few classes will continue to see high numbers. The Class of 2016 had a record 95.3 percent of summer associate positions given a full-time offer.
Source: http://www.nationaljurist.com/content/entry-level-job-market-heats-firms-scramble-top-talent
Photo: cclawschool.com