In the End, Just a Few Small Changes to Law Firm Recruiting Guidelines

In a recent post, we noted that "change does not come easily to the citizens of Law Firm Land." So no surprise that the board of the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) has, for now, made just two small changes to the law firm summer associate recruiting guidelines: The deadline for students to accept offers will drop from 45 days to 28 days, and the deadline for students who have completed a summer program to accept job offers will move from Nov. 15 to Nov. 1.

The National Law Journal (NLJ) reports that NALP board has backed off the recent NALP recommendation to delay the summer associate offer process by four months -- a proposal that would have initiated a January offer kickoff date for law firm summer associate offers.

Law firm recruiters and law school administrators "largely welcomed" the outcome, reports the NLJ. The NALP proposal to delay law firm summer associate offers to January, met with a chilly reception from many law firms and those involved in law firm hiring.

NALP Executive Director Jim Leipold said that the organization received 800 responses to the proposal since it was unveiled in early January, but there was "no easy consensus or even a trend around one particular idea." Leipold explained that "Law firms and law schools are both conservative and risk-averse institutions. The scope of change was very large and it doesn't surprise me that there was resistance."

NALP's Jim Leipold was a guest on Law School Podcaster's segment, "The Current Economic Environment: What It Means for Law School Applicants & Students." Tune into the full show to hear more on this topic.

Baby, It's Cold Out There! Law Firms Respond to Proposed Changes in Recruiting at Law Schools

Change does not come easily to the citizens of Law Firm Land. Witness the tepid reaction, if not downright frigid, by some big law firms to the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) Report's (pdf) recommendation to move the period when offers are extended to law students to January, five months after on-campus interviews.

For those not yet familiar with the acronym from the on-campus interviewing (OCI) experience, NALP is the national organization of law schools and employers that, among other things, sets guidelines on the annual on-campus interview season, and determines how long students can hold onto a job offer before making a decision. Tradition is king here -- the process has remained pretty much the same for 40 years, with law firms recruiting on campus in the fall and making offers shortly thereafter.

The recent NALP Commission and subsequent Report (see our earlier post detailing the Report's recommendations) came as a result of the recession, where law firms found themselves overstaffed and forced to lay off hundreds of lawyers in New York and nationwide, and delayed by up to one year the first-year start dates.

Jones Day was an early critic of the plan for an “offer kick-off day” in mid-January during students’ second year of law school and now has offered more details in a critique (PDF) on its website that says the plan is an anticompetitive “radical restructuring” of the recruitment process.

NALP solicited comments to the recommendations in the Report and they are hearing back from member law firms and law schools. According to Jim Leipold, executive director at NALP, "almost universally people felt a January kick-off date was too late." The biggest issue? Recruiting officials at firms have expressed concerned that a January "offer kick-off day" will create a prolonged recruiting season with law firms spending nearly half a year wining and dining top students.

Leipold told the New York Law Journal, reaction to its proposals among the schools and firms is "mixed." NALP is reviewing feedback from more than 825 members, including more than 125 written comments.

NALP's Jim Leipold was a guest on Law School Podcaster's segment, "The Current Economic Environment: What It Means for Law School Applicants & Students." Tune into the full show to hear more on this topic.