Last year brought evidence that hiring activity at law firms was slowly improving, although not returning to prerecession levels, according to data from NALP, the National Association for Law Placement.
The average summer-associate class size reported by the 400 law firms surveyed by NALP inched up from nine to 11—the highest average since 2009. At the same time, the median summer class size remained at five, leading NALP to conclude that most of the recruiting increase was limited to a few firms running large summer programs.
