Is now a good time to apply to law school? Summer associate hiring is up for the fifth straight year and the 2015 summer associate class is expected to be the biggest since 2009, as we mentioned earlier today.
But a closer look at the data suggests proceeding with caution. Not all firms are booming, and not all law schools are solid bets. Here’s a report from Karen Sloan of the National Law Journal (based on the latest NALP data):
[R]ecruiting growth was uneven. Just more than half of firms—52 percent—reported making more summer-associate offers than they had in 2013. Among those firms, 14 percent exceeded the number of offers made during 2013 by more than 10.
But 35 percent of law firms made fewer offers.
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Even in summer associate hiring, we’re seeing divergence between the rich and the super rich — the phenomenon that has led ATL columnist Mark Herrmann to predict the imminent capitulation of many Biglaw firms. Some firms are thriving, and others are just surviving. James Leipold of NALP hits the nail on the head:
“[J]ust as we are seeing some separation in law firm financial results, we are seeing some law firms’ summer programs increasing in size at the same time that others’ programs are continuing to shrink, while many are maintaining historically small programs,” he said.
The data show that firms on average made 35 summer-associate offers, up from 27 in 2013. Firms’ median number of offers increased from 8 to 9.5. Slightly more than half of all callback interviews yielded summer-associate job offers.
So once you get a callback, there’s a better than fifty-fifty chance that you’ll get an offer. That’s a heartening statistic, right? But it’s safest to go to a law school where on-campus interviewing is robust enough to generate lots of callbacks.
If you go to one of those top law schools, you might find yourself caught up in a tug of war between multiple firms:
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“In general, law firms remain cautious in their first-year hiring but in some sectors that hiring is once again becoming aggressive — particularly in the race for perceived top talent, driven perhaps in part by some anxiety that smaller entering law school classes going forward will mean a slimmer talent pool to be divided amongst competitors,” Leipold said.
Note Leipold’s careful phrasing: perceived top talent. There’s a decent argument to be made that students at top law schools, or students at the top of the class at law schools generally, aren’t necessarily going to be better lawyers than their less well-credentialed classmates.
But when it comes to landing good entry-level legal jobs, and the ability of different schools’ graduates to pay off their loans, perception often merges with reality. Good luck to this year’s summer associates and to everyone in the hunt for gainful employment this summer.
Summer-Associate Hiring Increases for Fifth Straight Year [National Law Journal via Morning Docket]
Perspectives on Fall 2014 Law Student Recruiting [National Association for Law Placement (NALP)]
Job market for new law grads is improving, NALP chief says [ABA Journal]
Ground for Measured Optimism on Job Prospects [National Law Journal]