NALP Bulletin, May 2003

• What are the trends in the hiring of entry-level associates?
• How does the volume of lateral hiring compare with that of entry-level hiring?
• What percentage of summer associates typically receives an offer for an associate position?
• To what extent do law firms leverage their partners with associates?
• How many billable hours are associates working?
• How much do these findings vary from city to city?

NALP's annual Patterns & Practices: Measures of Law Firm Hiring, Leverage, and Billable Hours in 2002 has been released and answers these questions for law firms nationwide and in 32 cities and 7 states. The findings are based on information found in a familiar NALP resource — the 2001 and 2002 NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE).

Among the many useful and informative features of this 120-page report are concise summary tables such as that shown at right, which allow quick comparisons on a nationwide and city-specific basis. For example:

• Compared with an aggregate increase of 6.4% in second-year hiring between 2000 and 2001, these same firms reported plans to hire 13% fewer 2Ls in 2002 compared with 2001. But the decrease was expected to be far greater at the largest firms of 501 or more attorneys (-16.8%) and in the West (-20.6%).
• Among the cities in which employers expected to hire at least 100 second-year students in 2002, the change from 2001 to 2002 ranged from none in Houston, to a decrease of 30.0% or more in Austin, San Jose, and Seattle.
• It is also evident that the reversal of fortunes has been greater in some areas than others. For example, the expected decrease of 30% in second-year hiring at Seattle firms followed an increase of nearly that much, (27.1%) between 2000 and 2001. In Houston, on the other hand, hiring of 2Ls has been relatively steady over the same period.

Among other findings in the report:

• Entry-level hiring increased very modestly — 3.7% — from 2000 to 2001, and was expected to decline slightly, by 2.2%, from 2001 to 2002.
• Lateral hiring was off dramatically (-27.8%) between 2000 and 2001, resulting in firms hiring in aggregate slightly fewer laterals than entry-level attorneys in 2001, compared with hiring 38% more laterals than entry-level attorneys in 2000.
• Nationwide, 86.5% of second-year summer associates considered for an associate offer received one.
• Most offices reporting a minimum billable hours requirement require either 1,900 or 1,800 hours (22.6% and 21.6% of offices, respectively). Contrary to their reputations, New York City firms do not necessarily set the highest minimums. Although 28% of New York offices required 2,000 billable hours, the 2,000- hour minimum was even more prevalent in several other cities.

Summary of Second-Year Summer Hiring Trends — 2000-2002

Note: State figures exclude any cities reported separately.