Over the past several months we have reported the industry findings that the number of people taking the LSAT and applying to law school has been steadily decreasing, partly as a result of employment statistics that indicate the employment for students graduating from law school and passing the bar were poor. The Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) released “Selected Findings” last week which indicate some interesting information about the job market and indicate that there may be some changes on the job front.
NALP looked at employment statistics as of February 2013 – about nine months after law school graduation. The initial findings indicate that for the class of 2012, the number of overall jobs for graduates was up as compared to the class of 2011; NALP also points out the number of students in the graduating class of 2012 was higher than the previous year and this affected the percentage of graduates employed. As a result, while the number of jobs may have increased over last year, the percentage of employed students fell about 1% as compared to last year. The employment rate for graduates in 2012 was 84.7% as compared to an employment rate of 85.6% for the Class of 2011. This number reflects a five year trend of decreased employment rates. The highest rate of employment was seen in 2007, when the percent of law school graduates who were employed was at 91.9%.
NALP looked at employment rates in several areas, including private practice. A little more than half of the law school graduates – 50.7% – were able to obtain a job in the private sector; while the percentage is low, it does represent a 5% increase over the percent of the Class of 2011 working in private law firms. As a general rule, over the 39 years that NALP has looked at the data, the rate of employment in the private sector has been in the 55-58% range. The number of jobs at the largest law firms presents some encouraging news: the actual number of openings increased by 27% over 2011; this represents over 3600 jobs! While the percentage of jobs in small firms remained flat, the actual number of these jobs grew to almost 8200 positions. The total number of public interest jobs and academic jobs has grown since 2008.
The national median salary for those graduating in 2012 was $61,245 which is up slightly as compared to the median salary for last year’s graduating class, although it is less than the median salary of $78,653 for the class of 2011.
According to James Leipold, NALP Executive Director, “the jobs picture is improving, if only slightly. This class found more jobs… Median salaries have also rebounded slightly”. While Leipold sees good news and bad news in these numbers, more jobs but a lower overall employment rate, nonetheless he indicated “the Class of 2011 represented the absolute bottom of the curve on the jobs front”.
While acknowledging the improvements in the job market for law school graduates, NALP points out several issues that are present for those coming into the job market. Of those students who reported employment statistics, only slightly more than 64% were employed in jobs requiring passage of the bar – a decline of about 10% since 2008 and the lowest percentage measured by NALP. In addition, the unemployment rate was up slightly for the Class 0f 2012: 12.08% which represents an increase of about .7% from the unemployment rate of the Class of 2011.
While it appears as if there is still some uncertainty with respect to the job market for law school graduates overall, there appears to be the possibility of some good news for prospective law school students.
For the full article, please click on this link: http://www.nalp.org/classof2012_selected_pr
