Tag Archives: law firm hiring

Culture Key to Recruitment at Mid-size Firms

Posted on March 7, 2013 by | Leave a comment

When it comes to attracting the best lateral hires, culture counts. Of the mid-size firms surveyed by TAGLaw and the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center, 70 percent rated culture as one of the top two selling points in their recruitment process. The other was the overall quality of the firm.

The findings were provided by leaders at 68 firms with a median size of 40 attorneys. About half of respondents were located in North America, with the remaining split evenly among Europe and Latin America.

Culture was so important to firms, that preserving it was cited as the top reason not to seek mergers. Only 19 percent expect to grow through mergers. In fact, according to an ABA Journal story, 75 percent of the firms had been approached by a larger firm interested in a merger—but only 37 percent seriously considered the offer. “Faster growing firms—those reporting revenue gains of at least 10 percent since 2007—were the least interested in merging with a larger firm,” the story states.

When it comes to growth, 90 percent of firms plan to rely solely on organic growth and just 57 percent plan on expanding through lateral hires (though of the firms who have hired laterally, 92 percent said the new recruit lived up to expectations).

“The firms in our survey that are growing the fastest were the same ones that are most careful about their human capital,” Lisa Rohrer, director of executive education and a research fellow at the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center, said in a press release. “Successful mid-sized firms greatly value their culture and weigh cultural concerns carefully when considering possible lateral hire and merger opportunities.”

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More New JDs Hired by Small Firms, Not BigLaw

Posted on May 10, 2012 by | 2 Comments

A new FindLaw analysis of the ABA’s recently released law school placement survey data reveals that most new law school graduates who go into private law firms are being hired by small firms rather than BigLaw.  The same survey data has also been featured in the recent debate over schools hiring their own graduates.

Forty-two percent of the 43,706 new lawyers in the Class of 2010 were employed by private law firms according to the survey data.  Of those who were hired by private law firms, 62.6% were hired at firms with 50 or fewer attorneys.  This is compared to 21.2% who were hired by firms with more than 500 attorneys and 16.2% who landed jobs at firms with 51 to 500 attorneys.

A more in-depth analysis of the data by FindLaw reveals:

  • 6.5% of new graduates who went into the private sector were employed by solo firms,
  • 41.0% were employed at firms of two to 10 attorneys,
  • 9.5% worked at firms of 11 to 25 attorneys,
  • 5.6% worked at firms of 26 to 50 attorneys,
  • 4.5% worked at firms of 51 to 100 attorneys,
  • 5.7% worked at firms of 101 to 250 attorneys,
  • 6.0% worked at firms of 250 to 500 attorneys, and
  • 21.2% worked at firms of more than 500 attorneys.

The school-reported survey data is not without its critics.  While it shows that nearly 85% of the 2010 graduates were employed, 4.8% of those “employed” new graduates were actually in jobs funded by their law schools.

In fact, a related FindLaw analysis of the data “shows about three-fourths of ABA-accredited law schools hired their own grads, or funded their first jobs after commencement.”  Twenty-four law schools provided jobs “for at least 10% of their graduating class in 2010.” 

While the survey data for the Class of 2011 is not out yet, the ABA has pledged to release their placement data in a more timely fashion (another criticism).  The ABA hopes to get the new data out this month or in early June, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

Posted by Marianne Purzycki

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NLJ 250: “Other” Lawyer Ranks are Growing

Posted on March 30, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Earlier this week, the National Law Journal released its annual ranking of the nation’s largest law firms ranked by lawyer headcount.  Overall, the number of lawyers at NLJ 250 firms increased in 2011 by 2,132 lawyers for a total of 126,293, representing a 1.7% increase from last year.  Not a huge gain, but the first since 2008, the year that saw the highest number of lawyers recorded by the survey.

A large part of the growth in the NLJ 250 headcount was due to two firms involved in large cross-border mergers last year, illustrating the continuing globalization of the legal industry.  In January of last year, Squire Sanders combined with Hammonds (c. 500 lawyers)  in the UK to create a 1,275-lawyer firm, which they grew later in the year with 80+ Perth-based lawyers from Minter Ellison.  In the spring, DLA Piper combined with Australia’s DLA Phillips Fox (c. 600 lawyers) creating a firm with more than 4,000 lawyers, as we reported in MergerWatch.

However, as the survey points out, not all firms gained lawyers – 109 firms recorded declines in headcount – and the gains and losses were certainly not evenly distributed among types of lawyers, but definitely in keeping with the trends we’ve seen over the past few years.  Associate headcount was down 1.3%, but the ranks of “other” lawyers (staff, Counsel or Of Counsel lawyers, but not contract or temporary lawyers) jumped by a whopping 17.2%, reflecting the increasing use of these types of lawyers that often cost firms less to employ and have more experience than associates.  Equity partner ranks declined 1.6%, while the non-equity partner ranks grew by nearly 8%, a further indication that firms appear to be wary of expanding their equity partner ranks.

The 2011 Attorney Staffing Survey, conducted by the Hildebrandt Institute in collaboration with the Professional Development Consortium (“PDC”) and Georgetown University Law Center, saw similar results. The survey polled law firms on their attorney staffing models, including how law firms use non-partner track lawyers like staff and career attorneys. Nearly all of the respondents (97%) had some non-partner track lawyers, with counsel attorneys the most commonly used non-partner track position, followed by staff attorneys and finally career attorneys. 

A number of firms indicated that staff attorneys were generally hired directly into the role and are not ever considered for partnership.   As for compensation, 85% of staff attorneys make less than $150,000 while 74% of counsel attorneys make more than $200,000. Staff attorneys are the most recently established in some of the firms in the survey – nearly 30% of firms with staff attorneys report adopting the position within the past five years, perhaps indicating that law firms are shifting work to less expensive attorneys in response to an increasingly competitive market.

Posted by Marianne Purzycki

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Summer Associate Hiring Up in 2012 (at least for some)

Posted on February 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Last fall, some large law firms (including Bingham McCutcheon and Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom) indicated that they would be significantly increasing (sub. req.) the size of their summer associate classes in 2012.  The increase in hiring appears to have had a noticeable effect on summer employment numbers at some of the nation’s top law schools.   This week Reuters reports some early numbers from a handful of elite schools:

At New York University School of Law — currently ranked No. 6 by US News & World Report — preliminary data show that about 70 percent of incoming third-year students got summer associate positions in 2011, up 15 percentage points from 2010. At No. 5-ranked University of Chicago, the number was 77 percent, up eight points from 2010. The increase was three percentage points at No. 1-ranked Yale, and four percentage points at No. 7-ranked University of Michigan.

Despite these signs of life, the overall job market for law students is far from recovered.  As we discussed last week, hiring levels are still close to half what they were prior to the economic downturn.  While some large law firms are ready to increase hiring, most firms remain cautious.  And for mid-level firms, there may never be a return to pre-downturn hiring levels:

“Top-end firms continue to rely heavily on summer associate programs, but mid-level firms are reassessing their processes for training lawyers,” [consultant Paula Avery] said. “There’s a differentiation in the market.”

Posted by Emily Fisher

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