Law Firms Went on Associate Recruiting Spree in 2021 - Will Those Hires Become "Glut?"

 Legal media outlets were not being hyperbolic in featuring the 2021 associate market for both hiring and exits as wildly active.

Recent research confirms that. The study was done by the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research & Education. Based on a survey of 125 law firms in the US and Canada, it provided data that was not really surprising. Here is where you can purchase a copy of its Update on Associate Attrition.

And here are some of the findings and some of the implications.

  • During 2021, 7,278 associates had been hired. That is versus the hiring of 2,772 in 2020. That means that there are a lot of associates who could be "surplus" if the market sours. One might recall that in 2009, 6,000 lawyers had been put on the street. Some never landed a comparable legal jobs. The layoff narrative for the end of 2022 and into 2023 is already getting traction. After all, M&A is down and will probably stay in decline as global funding gets tight and more expensive.

 

  • The attrition in 2021 was 26%. That is up from 16% in 2020. Junior lawyers may be acquiring the self-confidence to go for a deal which is a better fit for them. The ordeal of law school didn't knock the stuffings out of them.

 

  • As for associates of color, their exit rate had been 34% in 2021, up from 18% the previous year. Yet much of the law firm industry had been focused on diversity. Was that mere rhetoric?

 

  • In 2021, 8% left after being at the firm less than a year. Was the vetting off in the rush to put manpower working on the over-capacity assignments? 

So, where are those leavers now?

19% sought out a practice area aligned with what they really wanted to do.

17% went for a career change to another niche in the legal sector. 

12% chased the money.

10% opted for a different geographical location.

Obviously, law firms need associates. Associates do the work linked to the partners' strategies. But law firms might not need as many associates as they brought aboard in 2021. That is, not if demand normalizes or even goes on a downward trajectory.

The whole world economic situation could be in flux.

You can connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

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