Despite the worst jobs report in NALP’s history when it came to jobs for 2011 law school graduates, Pennsylvania law firms have been hiring at increasingly higher rates for the last two years, with 2012 data compiled by The Legal showing double-digit growth in first-year associate hiring.
In looking at data gleaned from The Legal’s 2012 Pennsylvania First-Year Associates Survey, Pennsylvania firms saw a 10.6 percent increase in first-year associate hiring in their offices in the state between the 2011 class and the 2012 class. The firmwide hiring of associates for survey respondents grew at double that pace, with Pennsylvania firms hiring 20.5 percent more first-year associates firmwide in 2012 than they did in 2011.
