EMPLOYER TYPES CLASS OF 2011—AS OF FEBRUARY 15, 2012 # of Jobs = 35,653 Academic 3%
Private Practice 49.5%
Business 18.1%
T e drop in private practice jobs represents a
dramatic shift in the legal fi eld. Private practice jobs, particularly at the largest fi rms, represent the ultimate professional achievement. As the numbers of jobs at large fi rms decline, graduates are taking jobs at smaller fi rms for less pay and are also open- ing up their own practices. Solo practitioners have increased from 3.3 percent of the class of 2008 to 6 percent for the class of 2011. Blogs such as
AbovetheLaw.com have accused
law schools of infl ating employment statistics for recent graduates. Graduates of New York Law, Michigan’s T omas M. Cooley Law and other second-tier schools are asking for refunds because they could not fi nd the legal jobs they were sup- posedly promised. At the heart of the matter are statistics kept by law schools that advertise 90 percent employment for recent graduates. T e law schools report employment rates that include any job—not just those in the legal fi eld. Some schools even temporarily hire new graduates to infl ate employment statistics. Out of the 143 law schools in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report rankings, 59 report more than 90 percent employment for new graduates. T e schools have an incentive to report high employment numbers because employment rates account for a fi fth of a school’s rank. T e law school jobs programs make up an esti-
mated 5 percent of all jobs for the class of 2011, again according to NALP’s analysis. Without law school jobs programs, the overall employment rate would be about 81 percent, far lower than the historic lows of the early 90s recession. T e programs are hard to judge because some are legitimate paths to practicing law while others are temporary and unrelated to the legal fi eld. D&B
MCCA.COM
Public Interest 7.5%
Judicial Clerk 9.3%
Military 1.1% Other Govt 10.8% 47
NOTE: Figures in this chart refl ect all job types—both legal and other. For clarity, the category for unknown employer type, representing 0.7% of jobs, is not shown.
EMPLOYMENT STATUS CLASS OF 2011—AS OF FEBRUARY 15, 2012
# of Graduates = 41,623
Private Practice 49.5%
Not Seeking Job 2.5% Seeking Job 9.5%
Continuing Studies FT 2.3%
Other Non- professional Job 1.9%
Other Professional Job 5.3%
JD Advantage Job 12.6%
NOTE: The category of jobs for which type, e.g., bar passage required, or other was not specifi ed accounts for .5% of jobs but is not shown on the chart. Overall, 88% of jobs were reported as full-time.
Charts: Copyright 2012 by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) and reproduced with permission.
JULY/AUGUST 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52