For those who graduated law school in 2010, the bad news continues. Back in 2009, when the Class of 2010 was looking for jobs, law firms were mostly firing, not hiring. Now, a report on their current job status and salaries shows the job market is just as tough.
Only 64 percent of 2010 graduates reported having full-time jobs that require passing the bar, according to the report. In other words, 36 percent are not practicing attorneys. And,overall, 87.6 percent were in employment, down 4 percentage points from the historic high set by the Class of 2007.
"We have been watching this market deteriorate for several years now," said James Leipold, executive director of NALP, the Association for Legal Career Professionals, which produced the report.
Young attorneys lucky enough to have jobs are making less money. The national median salary for those working full time was $63,000, down almost 13 percent from $72,000 for the Class of 2009. The mean was $84,111, down nearly 10 percent from the Class of 2009's $93,454. The report noted that, because salaries cluster around the $145,000 to $160,000 paid by top firms and the $40,000 to $65,000 paid by smaller firms, "relatively few salaries were actually near the overall mean or median."
Fewer young attorneys made that top cluster: the proportion with jobs in firms with more than 250 attorneys fell to 26 percent for 2010 graduates from 33 percent for the Class of 2009.
For those working at law firms, the national median salary fell 20 percent to $104,000 for 2010 graduates from $130,000 for 2009 graduates.
The report noted additional "soft spots in the employment market." In addition to students who took jobs that did not require bar passage, 19 percent reported having temporary jobs, not including judicial clerkships, a number that has doubled since 2007. Of those, 8 percent were both temporary and part-time, up from 3 percent in 2007.
Many large firms deferred 2010 graduates to start dates in 2011. An earlier NALP report said about 40 percent of those participating in 2009 summer programs were to start sometime after the fall of 2010, the normal start date for these associates. For the purposes of the survey, deferred associates were reported as having the position and salary they accepted, regardless of start date.
There may be good news on the horizon. Legal recruiter Danielle Cyr of Kinney Recruiting said she's seen an uptick in firms looking for candidates and that she recently had her "busiest week in six years as far as the number of candidates interviewing." In the market for associates, firms are still looking for the "sweet spot" of three to five years of experience, but some firms are requesting entry-level associates, like those in the Class of 2010, Cyr said.
Formerly known as the National Association for Law Placement, NALP is made up of law schools in the United States and Canada and is dedicated to legal career counseling, planning, recruitment and retention. Read More
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