What is clear is that the entry-level job market in the private sector is currently not growing fast enough to absorb the additional students in the Class of 2024 and that unless there is a strong 3L hiring market this year — which seems unlikely given recent trends — a greater percentage of these students may need to look at other market segments for employment after graduation.
— Nikia L. Gray, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement, commenting on what the state of the Biglaw job market may look like for the law school Class of 2024 (i.e., this year’s summer associates), considering current market trends. According to a recent NALP report, the number of offers made for law students to work as summer associates this year decreased by about 2% compared to the last summer’s hiring program. This could be bad news, given that the Class of 2024 is nearly 12% larger than the Class of 2023.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
