April 2021: Read the 50th Anniversary Commemorative edition of the NALP Bulletin (PDF)

For 50 years NALP has believed in fairness, facts, and the power of a diverse community.

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Watch this 13-minute video featuring a review of 50 years of NALP data and research with Executive Director James Leipold.

Articles and History

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NALP's 50th Anniversary takes center stage in the April 2021 Commemorative Edition of the NALP Bulletin. The April issue is packed from start to finish with articles about NALP's past, present, and future, including the third part of Terrence Galligan's series on NALP's history focusing on the years from the end of the Great Recession in 2009 through present day, along with a few predictions for the future. The Commemorative Edition also features the third part of a series about dismantling racism and white supremacy in the legal profession by Alison Ashe-Card, Molly Stafford, and Nicole Netkin-Collins. Read the April 2021 NALP 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition.

In the second installment of a four-part series, NALP's Judith N. Collins examines the role that NALP Research has played in associate salaries through the years. "The median starting salary for a first-year associate went up by about 150% over the 25-year period from 1995 to 2019," Collins notes in the March 2021 edition of the NALP Bulletin.

The history of NALP's publications comes alive in a February 2021 article by Janet Smith, a longtime staff member who retired in 2020 as Senior Editor after serving as NALP Director of Communications for a number of years. Smith shares how members can get involved with the NALP Bulletin, PD Quarterly, NALPnow!, the Weekly Industry News Digest, and other communications channels. 

Happy New Year! The January 2021 issue, which kicks off NALP's 50th Anniversary year, features a look at the association's membership by the numbers since its founding in 1971. NALP Deputy Director Fred Thrasher shares insights on the membership and leadership throughout the years.

The December 2020 edition features a pair of articles, including the second part of Terrence J. Galligan's three-part series examining NALP's history from 1990-2008. The December issue also highlights the leadership role that NALP's Public Service Section has played throughout the years with an article by Sue Schechter and Tom Schoenherr.

NALP's Lisa Quirk examines the impacts of technology on NALP’s website, the NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE), the NALP Directory of Law Schools (NDLS), PSJD and other NALP member services in the November 2020 edition of the NALP Bulletin.

Leading the legal profession forward on LGBTQ+ rights is the focus of the October 2020 edition, with a look into NALP's efforts over the years by American University's Gihan Fernando and Dykema Gossett's Morgan Smith.

Judith N. Collins assesses the role of NALP in researching law schools and law firms in the September 2020 edition.

In the August Bulletin, former NALP President Karen Britton takes a 500-Foot View of NALP's First 50 Years, exploring the evolution of jobs in the legal recruiting and career services fields.

University of California Berkley School of Law's Terrence J. Galligan, a member of NALP's 50th Anniversary Commission, reviews NALP's early history from 1971-1991 in the first of a three-part series in the July Bulletin, and explains how our history is a roadmap to our future.

Learn how NALP's data collection efforts through the years have leveled the playing field for diverse professionals in a June Bulletin article by Diversity Lab's Lisa Kirby and Caren Ulrich Stacy.

Read the May Bulletin article Founders' Take: Looking Backward and Moving Forward by Chris White and Jeanne Svikhart

Check out NALP President Georgia Emery-Gray's column about kicking off the 50th Anniversary celebration in the April Bulletin, along with Executive Director James G. Leipold's Countdown to the 2021 Annual Education Conference.