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Center for Career Strategy
and Advancement
Levy Mayer Hall, Room 124
357 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-3069

Phone: (312) 503-3498

Market Trends

Welcome to the Center for Career Strategy & Advancement’s Market Trends webpage!

Our goal is to provide our assessment, as well as third party information regarding overall hiring trends in the legal marketplace, and to link to recent articles providing detailed analyses and updates.

What we are seeing
The market for legal services continues to increase as a proportion of the GDP. Click here for a graph which shows the consistent growth in legal services revenues over the past twelve years. The market for attorneys, which had been steadily growing across the country, is stabilizing in reaction to the economy. There appear to be some minor regional variations with hiring on the East and West Coasts slightly outpacing hiring in the Midwest. Within the law firms, promotions to equity partner are slightly down, with equity partnerships at some firms decreasing. Non-equity partnership is the fastest growing segment of the attorney population. Overall, growth in total attorneys has exceeded growth in revenue per lawyers, suggesting that last year’s associate salary increases are now being felt as demand for legal services declines.

In terms of practice areas, as economic growth has slowed down, so too has corporate work, particularly M&A, finance, and commercial real estate. Changes in the marketplace have caused a cutback in mortgage-backed securities practices, with related attorney layoffs at some firms. Bankruptcy and general litigation practices are expected to pick up. Some law firms have delayed the start date for Class of 2008 entry-level attorneys and it will not be uncommon for associates to work on matters outside of their primary practice group in the short-term. Law firm mergers are again on the rise, as is global expansion, particularly in Asian markets.

While there has been a slowdown in overall attorney hiring, law firm hiring for summer associate programs has remained healthy, but fairly stable for the past few years. Last fall, larger employers increased the number of schools they visited and went “deeper” into the class in terms of GPA, a trend that is expected to continue as firms seek to identify the best talent available. Mid-sized firms have focused more on recruiting new lawyers from local schools and in some cases, decreased visits to schools outside of their geographic region. Law school applications have decreased nationally and law schools are not increasing class size, thus employers are once again experiencing a more competitive market for second-year students. As detailed here, over the past two years, while the number of law graduates from the top schools has remained the same, the number of associate hires by NALP employers has increased which is good news for students. Starting salaries among the large firms in the larger markets remain at $160,000. The salary increases at the largest firms put financial pressure on mid-sized firms.

Midway through 2008, the demand for legal work has decreased in response to economic factors and the legal market is down from a year ago, but still strong. The expectation is that decreases in certain practice areas will be offset for increases in others.

Diversity
The overall percentage of ethnic minorities of the 255 largest U.S. firms (209 respondents) jumped to 12.4 percent from 11.3 percent in 2006 and 10.4 percent in 2005 according to The Minority Law Journal's Diversity Scorecard. The percentage of minority partners, however, is only up slightly from 5 percent in 2006 to 5.7 percent in 2007. The individual law firm with the highest percentage of minority attorneys, 25.3 percent, is Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison ( New York) . Diversity in partnership is increasing, with 11 percent of all new partners being lawyers of color. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has the highest percentage of minority partners, 15.1 percent, and Greenberg Traurig reported the highest total number of minority partners, 58. -- The Minority Law Journal, 5/1/07

Geographic and Practice Area Briefs

Southeast, February 2007  Real Estate, September 2007 
Northern California, March 2007   
Los Angeles, April 2007   


Recent News

Salary & Market:

Number of Legal Jobs Steadily Declining, Federal Stats Show, National Law Journal, October 7, 2008

Hiring Booms, But Firms See Bust Ahead, Legal Times, October 6, 2008

Welcome to the Future: Law After the Boom, American Lawyer, September 30, 2008

Associate Pay Unlikely to Rise, Legal Times, September 29, 2008


Firms:

Big Deals Go Belly Up Amid Market Crisis, American Lawyer, October 2, 2008

Heller Starts Dissolution Process, Recorder, September 29, 2008

Who Loses Out in Wachovia Sale to Citi?, AmLaw Daily, September 29, 2008

Dropping the Billable-Hour Rule, a Year Later, National Law Journal, September 08, 2008


Summer Associate/Associate:

Typos and Errors Lead to Slashed Fees for Attorney, Legal Intelligencer, October 8, 2008

How Associates Can Stay Safe in Uncertain Times, Legal Times, October 2, 2008

Your Career, Amid the Flood, Legal Times, September 29, 2008

For Summer Associates, It's a Wrap, Part 2, American Lawyer, August 19, 2008


Diversity & Lifestyle:

Commentary: Part-Time Lawyer Dads Are Still a Rare Bird, American Lawyer, September 30, 2008

BigLaw Associates' Pay Unlikely to Rise, But Their Hours..., National Law Journal, September 29, 2008

Four Law Firms Make Magazine's List of Best Companies for Working Mothers, National Law Journal, September 25, 2008

Inside 'women friendly' firms, National Law Journal, August 14, 2008


Clerkships:

Clerks in Paradise, American Lawyer, January 9, 2008


Geographic Markets:

San Francisco Bay Area Law Firms Float on Turbulent Waters, Recorder, January 10, 2008

Texas Firms Interested in Golden State, National Law Journal, January 10, 2008

Large Firms' Billing Rates Continue to Climb, National Law Journal, December 11, 2007

Building a Better Legal Profession - Boston, LSBBLP, October 10, 2007


Student & Bar Issues:

Wall Street Stress for Law Grads, National Law Journal, October 08, 2008

Univ. of Michigan to let some students skip LSATs, National Law Journal, September 26, 2008

It's not too late, National Law Journal, September 15, 2008

How Scared Students Should Tackle Job Interviews, National Law Journal, July 23, 2008


Public Interest & Pro Bono:

Pro Bono Scorecard 2008, American Lawyer, July 2008

The 2008 NLJ Pro Bono Awards, National Law Journal, January 7, 2008

Sonnenschein Builds Interest in Pro Bono Through Scholarships, Legal Times, July 26, 2007

Bills Would Ease Student Loan Payments for Public Sector Attorneys, National Law Journal, April 16, 2007


Corporate & Client Issues:

Can Lawyers Fly High in Executive Roles?, Corporate Counsel, September 22, 2008

Firm Lawyers Jump Ship for Quality of Life In-House, Fulton County Daily Report, July 27, 2007

General Counsel Keep Close Watch on Associate Pay Hikes, Fulton County Daily Report, July 12, 2007

Executives Rank Law Firms on Service and 'Arrogance', Connecticut Law Tribune, July 9, 2007

 
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