Law Students Make Hail Mary Plea For ABA To Curb Law Firm Recruitment Timelines - Above the Law

"Getting a summer associate gig is probably a far cry from what you remember. There used to be some decorum. You'd make it to campus, try to make some friends, and form your study cohort, knowing that you'd have at least a couple of months before you had to worry about the job hunt. That decorum went out the window back in 2018 when NALP abandoned the recruitment guardrails. The following years coasted on custom, but once firms realized how"

"Biglaw firms are recruiting 1Ls before any of their grades are in - and they're sending in 3Ls to do the work of determining who gets the summer jobs. Aggressive recruiting has put additional pressure on students at top-tier law schools and they've banded together to ask the ABA to do something about it. Law.com has coverage: A group of student organizations from top-tier law schools reached out to the American Bar Association with concerns about accelerated recruiting timelines"

"While the students from 18 law schools, including all 17 schools from the "T14," praise employers for being enthusiastic and state that "our student bodies have thus far matched this energy," they claim the early recruiting has "begun to undermine legal education, student and staff well-being, and the recruitment market," according to the Jan. 1 letter addressed to Daniel Thies, chair of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar."

Big Law firms have accelerated recruiting timelines, beginning to recruit 1Ls before grades are posted and relying on 3Ls to evaluate candidates. The abandonment of NALP recruitment guardrails in 2018 enabled deregulation and intensified competition. Traditional on-campus interviewing and firm swag have declined as recruiting methods have grown more aggressive. Top-tier law students face increased pressure and disruption to studies and well-being. Student organizations from 18 law schools, including all T14 schools, contacted the American Bar Association to raise concerns that early recruiting undermines legal education, student and staff well-being, and the recruitment market.

Read at Above the Law