Competition for Law Students

This year's class of summer associates was probably the most pursued in history.  It's clearly a sellers' market for law students.

Here are some interesting statistics by Leigh Jones in the May issue of "Marketing the Law Firm", essentially a republishing of the article in the February 16th issue of the National Law Journal.

Ward Bower, a consultant with Altman & Weil estimates that the Am Law 200 firms require about 10,000 new associates each year.  Assuming they restrict themselves to the top 100 law schools, they will pick up about 50% of all graduates from those schools.

Firms outside the Am Law 200 will pick up the remaining 50%.  It's unbelievably competitive for all firms to hire the associates they want, and as long as the economy stays strong, the demand for legal services will stay high and so will the competition for law students.