New Data Should Have Every Second-Year Law Student Extremely Worried About Getting A Summer Job

The National Association for Law Placement has released its analysis of hiring for the fall 2012 summer associate recruiting season, and the results aren't pretty.

Firms are being pretty stingy when handing out summer offers, which are made to second-year law students. In fact, things are almost as bad as they were during the recession, according to the NALP.

"Against that background, recruiting volumes by U.S. law firms on the campuses of U.S. law schools were mostly flat during the late summer and early fall of 2012 compared with recruiting activity the year before," the report found.

And things aren't expected to get any better in 2013.

“We have seen some faltering in recruiting volumes this past fall and that reflects the continuing faltering in the larger legal economy," NALP Executive Director James Leipold said in a press release. "If you read the client advisories coming from some of the private banks that are involved in law firm financing, it’s clear that 2013 is not likely to be dramatically better."

This chart, produced by the NALP and posted by Above The Law, says it all about the current recruiting market for 2Ls:

Recruiting for summer associates isn't expected to get better anytime soon.

"I would expect flat and faltering to be characteristics of the entry-level law firm hiring market going forward, at least for the short and even medium term. Multiple experts have made the case that the legal market is not likely to return to pre-2007 levels, and the recruiting environment reflects that reality," Leipold said in the press release.