US law firms chopped summer associate jobs to record low and recruited earlier than ever, report shows
March 11 (Reuters) - Law firm summer associate hiring hit an all-time low in 2024, as firms took a "conservative" recruiting approach, according to the National Association for Law Placement.
The total number of summer associate offers was down slightly compared with the 11-year low of 2023, while the median number of summer associate offers per law firm office fell to six in 2024 from seven in 2023 — the lowest since NALP began tracking that figure in 1993. The average number of summer associate offers, which law firms made to second-year law students, held steady at 22.
The number of summer associate offers tracked by NALP indicates that the hiring market has not rebounded from last year's slump.
U.S. law firms have focused their recent hiring efforts on experienced laterals and reduced their summer associate and associate hiring amid uncertain demand and declining lawyer productivity, a January report from the Thomson Reuters Institute found. The institute shares a parent company with Reuters.
Additionally, firms are still adjusting to a hiring surge in 2021 and 2022, fueled by a spike in demand for legal services as the COVID-19 pandemic began to wane, that left them overstaffed, said NALP executive director Nikia Gray. The lower summer associate hiring comes at a time when law firm profits are strong but client demand is slowing.
The new NALP figures, which focus on hiring practices at more than 180 law firms, also show that traditional on-campus interviews are no longer the primary vehicle for summer associate hiring and that law firms are locking down those hires earlier than ever to compete for the best recruits.
More than half of this year's incoming summer associates (56%) received their offers outside of law schools' formal recruiting events, through either direct recruiting, referrals or resume collections. That's up from 47% in 2023.
This year, only 24% of summer associate offers came through on-campus interviews conducted in mid- to late summer. Another 20% of offers were extended through early interview programs, which are a relatively new type of recruiting event put on by law schools in spring or early summer to get students in front of law firms prior to OCIs.
The new data offers further evidence that summer associate hiring is earlier and more decentralized than ever. The shift to online interviewing during the COVID-19 pandemic made it easier for law firms to connect with students outside of formal interviewing programs, the report notes. Previously, law firms would come to law school campuses in late July and August for in-person interviews. NALP also did away with its voluntary recruiting guidelines in 2018, giving law firms more flexibility in how they hire law students.
Shifting to earlier recruiting "has proven necessary in order to continue to secure top talent," said Erika Gardiner, McDermott Will & Emery's director of talent acquisition for law students and associates.
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