Law Schools

Job Market For Law School Grads Is The Best We've Seen In 10 Years

Very exciting news for those seeking entry-level jobs in the legal world.

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‘We obviously got jobs!’

It’s been years since we’ve seen a truly positive law school jobs report, but now that we’re more than a decade out from the nation’s financial turmoil that wreaked havoc upon the legal profession, we’re looking at employment outcomes that “approach pre-recession levels.”

According to the latest entry-level employment figures from the National Association of Law Placement (NALP), the class of 2018’s employment outcomes were quite strong. Not only did overall graduate employment increase to 89.4 percent (0.8 percent over the class of 2017), but the number of graduates employed in full-time, long-term jobs where bar passage was required was nearly 71 percent (an increase of about 2 percent), a percentage that’s even higher than rates measured before the recession. Here’s what James Leipold, NALP’s executive director, had to say about the latest employment figures:

“The employment outcomes findings for members of the Class of 2018 are strong and, along with the findings for members of the Class of 2017, clearly mark the beginning of a new post-recession cohort. The employment outcomes for this class more closely resemble employment outcomes measured in the years before the recession than they do the classes that graduated between 2009 and 2013 in the immediate aftermath of the recession,” noted James G. Leipold, NALP’s executive director. “Certainly, the overall employment rate has improved because of two intertwined factors. First, and most importantly, the smaller graduating class has meant that there is less competition for the jobs that exist. Second, large law firm hiring has increased steadily since 2011, adding more than 1,900 jobs in seven years.”

In fact, much of the class of 2018’s success in the job market was thanks to Biglaw employment. About 160 more associates were hired at firms with more than 500 lawyers than in 2017, such that 29.1 percent of 2018 graduates employed in law firm jobs were employed at the biggest of Biglaw firms. According to Leipold, this is “even higher than the pre-recession levels of over 25 percent in 2008 and 2009.”

Before you get too excited, please allow us to temper it with some cold, hard facts about the class of 2017. From a press release about the latest NALP numbers:

  • Despite the rise in the overall employment rate, the number of jobs found by graduates declined again this year, by about 150 compared with the Class of 2017.
  • Despite the relative strength of the job market for new law school graduates, at 8.3%, the unemployment rate ten months after graduation remains higher by nearly three percentage points than before the recession.

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Will law schools continue to enroll smaller classes to ensure that their graduates will be able to find jobs, or will they take students’ nondischargeable student loan dollars and run? “Rising law school enrollment could also certainly put downward pressure on the employment prospects for future classes, and it is unlikely that the current jobs environment could support a graduating class of anything over 40,000,” said Leipold, sounding a cautionary alarm amid soaring law school enrollment.

On a more positive note, while “any significant economic interruption or slowdown could once again depress legal employment numbers for future classes,” Leipold thinks that the Class of 2019 “is also likely to post strong employment outcomes.”

“All of that suggests cautious optimism is in order, with an eye to the sky for ill winds and the understanding that independent of whatever happens with the national and global economies, the legal services sector continues to be in the midst of dramatic change that will be ongoing, and will, in the end, change the job market for law school graduates in ever more dramatic ways. Ten years from now the employment profile of the graduating Class of 2028 is likely to look quite different from the Class of 2018.”

Congratulations to everyone who was able to find a job in this brave new world of post-recession legal employment. Remember that law school may be less of a risky investment now than it was at any time over the course of the past decade, but it’s still a risk. Be sure to do your research before you enroll — but in the meantime, law school graduates can enjoy all of their sweet Biglaw cash.

Jobs & JDs: Class of 2018 [NALP]
Class of 2018 Employment Outcomes Approach Pre-Recession Levels [NALP]
Employment for the Class of 2018 — Selected Findings [NALP]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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