US summer associate programmes hit record low
05 March 2010
A report published this week by the National Association for Law Placement has revealed the severity of the collapse in graduate recruitment by US law firms.

The report found that firms offered an average of just seven summer associate positions last year. That's a 30% drop on 2008's average of ten and a 53% drop on 2007's average of 15. The picture was even worse for large firms with more than 700 lawyers worldwide. They took on an average of eight summer students in 2009, down 56% on the 18.5 taken on in 2008 and a massive 73% fall from 2007's figure of 30.

Overall, NALP says that US law firms took on fewer summer associates last year than at any time since it started compiling records 17 years ago.
 

A collapsed graduate recruit yesterday

 
Nor was the picture much better for those who managed to secure an summer internship. In 2008 90% of summer interns were offered full time jobs. Last year that fell to 69%, again, the lowest figure that NALP has ever recorded.

NALP Executive Director Jim Leipold said that he didn't anticipate recruitment volumes would increase significantly this year - although "the worst does seem, we hope, to be behind us" he added.