The following was extracted from an article in the May 2005 Bar Examiner by James G. Leipold, the Executive Director of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP). 

Starting salaries for attorneys have changed dramatically over the years, especially since the arrival of large numbers of women and minorities to the field.  As for the employment market itself, during the 30 years NALP has been assembling data, there is far more consistency than change, with the present market remaining steady.

Of the class of 2003, 88.9 percent of those for whom employment status was known, were employed by February 15 of 2004.  Of all employed graduates, 57.8 percent took jobs in private practice.  It might surprise some that 31.6 percent of those going into private practice took jobs in firms with only two to ten attorneys—in spite of the publicity that surrounds larger firms.

The economic impact of this shift to smaller firms is significant.  Since starting salaries are higher in larger firms, this trend finds the median salary for those entering private practice falling to $80,000 in 2003 from $90,000 in 2002.  The overall median, then, for the graduates of the 2003 class fell to $55,000, compared to $60,000 in 2002.

Public service work was the second most common career choice by the graduates of 2003: 26.9 percent.  This figure includes those in government jobs (including those in the military), judicial clerkships and jobs with public-interest organizations.  The interest in public-sector work remains strong, but starting salaries lag far behind those of graduates entering private practice; for instance, the median entry-level salary for a civil legal services organization was $34,000, for public defenders, $39,000, for local prosecuting attorneys, $40,000 and for public-interest organizations, $36,000. 

The contrast between salaries in the public and private sectors remains constant throughout the whole legal career, too.  At five years of experience, attorneys in the public-sector ranged from $40,000 to $50,000, while fifth-year associates in private practice were making $82,000 to $155,000.  These figures gain greater significance when one considers that many graduates have large law school debts to repay.  The burden of repaying such debt is naturally heavier for those taking lower-paying jobs. 

For the class of 2003 (and historically) minority graduates are more likely to take public-service positions than non-minority graduates and women are more likely than men to take government, judicial clerkship and public-interest positions.

According to the ABA, minorities comprised about one-fifth of the 2003 class and nearly half the class was comprised of women.   Men and women were hired at nearly the same rate, but women going into private practice were somewhat more likely to enter large firms of more than 100 attorneys, as were minorities as compared to non-minorities.

Women and attorneys of color continue to be dramatically underrepresented among the partnership ranks at law firms.  In the nation’s largest law firms, attorneys of color account for only 4.3 percent of the partners and women only 17.1 percent.  The presence of women among law school graduates (nearly half) falls far below their matching presence in partnership roles.  While the percentage of minority graduates has doubled since the late 1980s, again partnership roles do not correspond.

The situation for women and minorities is complex indeed.  (See After the JD: First Results of a National Study of Legal Careers (2004), a NALP study, which may be accessed at www.nalpfoundation.org.) African Americans, for instance, expressed the highest degree of job satisfaction during their first years of practice—and in some instances reported higher salaries than other minorities and even than their non-minority colleagues.  Women in this study expressed a higher degree of satisfaction with work substance than did men.

As for age, about 78 percent of the class of 2003 was between the ages of 20 and 30.  About 9 percent was 36 or older.  For this class, 90 percent of those between 20 and 30 reported being employed, while only 82.6 percent of those 46 or older reported employment.  In addition, older graduates are more likely to go into business and industry and government jobs than into private practice. 

Geographic factors play a big role in legal employment.  Graduates found jobs in every state of the Union, although only a few dozen jobs were reported taken in the sparsely populated northern plains compared to the 5,300 jobs taken in just New York and California combined.  In these two states, two-thirds of the jobs were in private practice.  New York City alone provided 2,800 positions.  Seattle offered the highest percentage of business jobs, while Dallas and Atlanta had the highest percentage of private-practice positions.

Among the largest cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco show higher numbers of both women and attorneys of color across all levels.  Among smaller cities, this is also true of Miami.  Ranking high in the specific area of women in partnerships are the cities of Denver, West Palm Beach, San Diego and Seattle.  Austin and San Jose have relatively high percentages of partners of color.

About 68 percent of offers made to the class of 2003 were made before graduation.  For large firms, the figure was even higher—but in very small firms (two to ten attorneys) almost half the jobs were obtained after graduation.

Over the past 30 years, the entry-level employment market has remained remarkably stable.  Law school students continue to have high expectations at graduation, but sometimes the goals are unrealistic as to salary and they are disappointed if they do not place at the national median.  Law firm topography is changing at a rapid pace with the recent trends toward globalization and the consolidation through mergers. 

Additionally, law firms are beginning to grapple with a new generation of students for whom work-life balance is the top priority.

This article may be read in its entirety on the NALP Web site www.nalpfoundation.org.

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