The Legal Industry Got Nuked By The Financial Crisis [CHART]

The Atlantic published a lengthy analysis Tuesday about the state of the job market for law school grads and when we can expect it to recover.

And that story gives us a glimpse at just how badly the banking crisis destroyed the legal industry.

From The Atlantic:

When the financial industry melted down in 2008, it burned a hole straight through the finances of America's big corporate law firms. They in turn cut back on hiring, and that destabilized the rest of the market, as graduates who would have landed a plumb firm job opted for lower-paying positions in government, small firms, and public interest that in past years would have gone to the alums of less prestigious institutions.

This graph The Atlantic obtained from the legal industry group NALP shows just how much legal employment dropped post-2008:

And things don't seem to be improving any time soon.

The legal industry lost 2,400 jobs in January, according to the Labor Department.

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