Legal Research

A ?Small Bounce? in Job Stats Chronicles a Better Year for Law Students

By jlutz99

From the ABAJournal Law News Now: 

Things are looking up?ever so slightly?for law students looking for law firm jobs.

A new NALP research report (PDF) reveals a ?small bounce? in job recruiting numbers in the summer and fall of 2010, at least when compared to the previous year.

The percentage of summer associates offered full-time jobs rebounded to 87.4 percent in 2010 after plunging to 69.3 percent in 2009, according to NALP, formerly the National Association for Law Placement. As a result, law students became a little choosier, and the acceptance rate fell to 82.7 percent from 84.5 percent the year before.

Students also fared better when interviewing for 2011 summer associate jobs, at least compared to the previous year. Last year, 40.6 percent of students got summer associate offers after callback interviews, compared to 36.4 percent in 2009, 46.6 percent in 2008, and around 60 percent the three prior years.

The statistics also suggest the market improved for 3Ls, but only slightly. Fifteen percent of the law firms responding to NALP?s survey reported interviewing third-year students, compared with only 3 percent in 2009. The numbers still fall short of prior years, however. The percentage of firms interviewing 3Ls was 25 percent in 2008, 42 percent in 2007, and 53 percent in 2006.

Read the article here. 

Posted by Jon Lutz 

Full post as published by FSU College of Law Library Blog on March 14, 2011 (boomark / email).