Legal Job and Biglaw Job Patterns

The percentage of a graduating class employed in jobs that require a law license is sensitive to two distinct supply figures: total graduates and total available jobs. For example, if graduates increase and the number of jobs stays the same, the percentage will decline. The percentage of graduates obtaining full-time entry-level legal jobs was quite high in the 1980s, peaking at 84.5% in 1988. The average rate in the mid to late 1980s was 82.9%. The next two decades (90s and 00s) each had an average that was ten points lower, 73.7% in the 90s and 71.4% in the 00s. In the 10s, the average was 67.3%—nearly eight points lower. However, these trends reversed course in the 20s. While the number of graduates remained stable, the number of legal jobs has increased. In 2023, the percentage of graduates in full-time legal jobs crossed 80% for the first time since 1991. In the 20s, the average has thus far been 76.3%.

The lowest legal employment rate on record was in 2011 — but law schools knew the decline was coming and in the same year began to reduce enrollment. Between 1976 and 2000, law schools steadily enrolled between ~40,000 and ~44,000 new students each year. From 1976 to 1987, the average was 40,973. From 1988 to 2000, the average was 43,497—a little over 6% higher. But between 2000 and 2002, law schools increased first-year enrollment 11.2%. In subsequent years, enrollment steadily creeped up, with minor ebbs and flows, until peaking in 2010 at 52,404. The number of jobs, on the other hand, was far steadier. Between 1985 and 2010, the number of new full-time law jobs each year generally stayed between 27,000 and 30,000. Increased enrollment and a steady number of jobs spell a lower employment rate for law school graduates. Although the legal employment rate has improved substantially, the entry-level market has structurally weakened. Between 2015 and 2020, the number of full-time law jobs fluctuated around 24,000 and 25,000 jobs. But even with some of the highest legal employment rates on record, the number of full-time legal jobs has not returned to its highs from 1985 to 2008.

In 2022 and 2023, the number of legal jobs at large firms reached new highs — after a previous peak in 2008. Jobs at large law firms (>100 attorneys) pay the highest salaries, which is increasingly important for servicing even below average debt levels. Since bottoming out in 2011, the number of jobs at large firms has steadily increased from about 4,800.

Jobs at large law firms are not spread evenly across all law schools. Graduates from the top 20 law schools (by placement in large firms) consistently obtain more than half of these jobs pre-covid. But since 2021, following several years of decline, that figure has dropped considerably below 50%. This indicates a growing number of schools with access to these large law firm jobs.

In 2023, 43.6% of the available jobs in large firms (> 100 attorneys) were placed by graduates from the top 20 law schools. 71 schools (36.4%) had less than 10% of their graduating class employed at by large law firm (in any job), with a majority of these schools having less than 5%.