A survey released at the end of last week illustrates how tough the overall employment market is for graduates of the class of 2011. Starting salaries for last year’s crop of US law school graduates tumbled by nearly a fifth compared with rates in 2010.
The study – conducted by the National Association for Law Placement -- found that median salaries for the class of 2011 had plummeted by nearly 17 per cent since 2009.

Erosion of opportunities

But most dramatically, the research showed that the median starting salary levels specifically in private practice fell by more than 18 per cent compared to 2010, and a whopping 35 per cent compared with 2009.
‘This drop in starting salaries, while expected, is surprising in its scope,’ said the association’s executive director, James Leipold. ‘Nearly all of the drop can be attributed to the continued erosion of private practice opportunities at the largest law firms.’
Meanwhile, the National Law Journal revealed in its study ‘Women in the partnership’ that in the largest US firms by headcount, women represented just 15 per cent of equity partners.
According to the survey, the top five firms with female equity partners are New York’s Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy (42 per cent), West Virginia-founded Jackson Kelly (28 per cent), Indiana’s Ice Miller (26 per cent) and national firms Best Best & Krieger and Ford & Harrison (both with 26 per cent).

Climbing the ladder

One female partner at Fragomen, Parisa Karaahmet, joined the firm in 2000 after finding advancement options limited in her previous career in government. She said: ‘It was a great starting experience, but I never felt I could fulfil my ambitions there.’
At Fragomen, she said, ‘I was told from day one there was nothing I couldn't achieve, and partnership was possible for anyone. ‘I try to tell people when I interview them, there's a tall ladder to climb. But it's climbable.’