NALP Bulletin, September 2012

New information collected as part of the graduate employment survey for the Class of 2011 reveals that more than 1,700 jobs taken by that class were funded by the graduate’s law school through a variety of bridge fellowship programs, grants, and other programs. As noted in the Selected Findings for the Class of 2011, such jobs accounted for almost 5% of the jobs taken by this class, and absent such jobs, the overall employment rate for the class would have been about 4 percentage points lower, just over 81%. This figure is lower even than the previously recorded low overall employment rate of 83.4% for the Class of 1994.

The full Jobs & JDs report for the Class of 2011 has a new section on these jobs. Highlights of the findings include:

• 61% of the jobs were both part-time and short-term (defined as less than one year).

• Almost 42% of the jobs were reported as requiring bar passage, but also as both part-time and short-term. About 19% of the jobs were reported as JD advantage, but also as both part-time and short-term.

• In terms of employment settings, 42% of jobs were with public interest organizations, 23% were with government, and 21% were in academia. Looking at more narrowly defined employment and job settings, the two largest were legal services and law school research assistant/fellow positions. Each of these accounted for about 18% of law school funded jobs, and in both cases most jobs — 71% — were both short-term and part-time.

• Stipends are more often paid on a monthly basis, and a wide range of stipend amounts for both full and part-time jobs were reported. Reported stipend amounts ranged from a low of $100 per month to a high of over $1,000 per month. The median was $225 per month for full-time jobs and $125 per month for part-time jobs.

The full Jobs & JDs report for the Class of 2011, revised and expanded from previous years to include not only this but also additional information, can be ordered through NALP’s online bookstore.