Legal Firms Hiring Again: Good News for Law Students

By: Colleen Jilio-Ryan | Posted in: Law Firms

While the economy has remained slow in its growth for the most part, there is hope for law students that are still looking for work in their profession or are about to graduate and are worried about looking for steady employment. Reports from the Wall Street Journal are showing that many law firms within the United States are having an uptick in hiring for entry level law positions.

In particular, the report saw that a little over 20% of 2013 graduating law students found employment within nine months at top law firms with over 500 lawyers and this accounts for over 16% of jobs in law firms. While not the biggest growth in numbers for law students, this is still a good sign that the job market is recovering for law firms across the nation and newly graduated law students might have an easier time applying and being hired on at top law firms.

Many law offices had to cut back on expenses during the height of the recession and that also meant laying off many of their lawyers and other law professionals during this time. Most law offices haven’t recovered since then and have remained smaller in their head count, but one law office in Chicago is proving that there can be a rebound period for law offices looking to hire on more lawyers.

Williams Montgomery once had 100 attorneys in their office in Chicago before the recession and now the law firm has about 30 and is looking to bring up that number to 44 with a focus on patent litigation. If you’re willing to uproot and travel the world, law firms across the globe are even seeing a rise in employment numbers and growth.