In the face of an economic slowdown, large law firms are considering various strategies to navigate the challenges ahead. One approach is deferring the start date of first-year associates and reducing the number of summer associates hired. While business leaders express concerns about the current economic landscape, Boston-area firms have different views on the necessity of such drastic measures this year.
Typically, second-year law students secure summer associate positions before their final year of law school. These summer jobs often lead to full-time offers as first-year associates upon graduation the following spring. However, following the 2008 financial crisis, many law firms deferred the start dates for first-year associates as a cost-saving measure.
Nationwide, approximately 3,400 to 3,700 students were deferred for the class of 2009, and 1,600 to 1,800 were delayed for the class of 2010. Several prominent Boston law firms, including Goodwin Procter LLP, Ropes & Gray LLP, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo PC, opted to push back their associates' start dates. Additionally, law firms started accepting significantly fewer summer associates, a downsizing trend that persisted for years. According to National Association for Law Placement data, it took until 2015 for the average summer associate class size to return to the levels seen in 2007.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, the eighth-largest law firm in the state, increased the number of summer associates by one in its Boston office from 2022 to 2023, with 13 summer associates starting this summer.
Goodwin, the second-largest law firm in the state, had 150 summer associates nationwide in 2022. The firm has raised that number to 155 summer associates this summer and has no plans to defer any first-year associates.
However, not all firms share this optimism. Cooley LLP, the 18th largest firm in the US according to the Am Law 100 list, announced a pushback of its first-year associates' start date from November to January 2024. Cooley has a Boston office. Fenwick & West LLP, the 66th-largest firm in the country, made a similar announcement, although the firm does not have a Boston office. Some industry observers consider these firms to be outliers.
Andrew Glynn, a managing director at legal staffing firm Major, Lindsey & Africa in Boston, believes deferral is possible but does not expect it to occur. He suggests that firms can increase their summer associate numbers because they have already adjusted after the pandemic, unlike during the 2008 financial crisis.
Glynn highlights that the hiring process has lengthened significantly since 2021 when firms were hiring rapidly following the pandemic-induced slowdown. Firms are now taking four to eight weeks to complete the hiring process, compared to the previous timeline of less than a week.
Excessive hiring in 2021 has led to challenges for firms, with an overabundance of young associates entering 2022. Glynn notes that firms have taken "drastic measures" to address this issue, including public and "stealth" layoffs disguised as poor performance terminations to avoid layoff disclosures.
Glynn remains optimistic about the situation, stating that many Boston firms have rectified
