The National Association for Law Placement released data showing that, despite an increase in on-campus recruiting, there were no major summer clerk hiring gains last autumn.

Significant hires unlikely

The National Law Journal reports that while offers for summer associates increased from 40.6 per cent in autumn 2010 to 46.4 per cent in 2011, the gains are put into perspective when 2007’s rate of 60 per cent is considered.
The findings suggest that firms are unlikely to make significant hires through at least 2013, since firms often gauge their hiring needs some two years in advance.

New norm

NALP Executive Director, Jim Leipold, maintains that the current situation may represent the new norm for recruiting. He told The Journal: ‘This is not a hot recruiting market, but this sort of modest growth may well represent the best we can hope for with year-on-year comparisons going forward. I would anticipate volatility in the recruiting market for some time. For instance, 2012 is off to a slow start economically for law firms, and we may see that reflected in the recruiting numbers this August.’