ALMResearchBlog

Law School Hiring Stats

As part of its annual NLJ 250 survey, the National Law Journal surveyed the firms—including the ones that didn’t make the top 250 firms list—about their hiring: which law schools they hired from and how many were hired from each law school. That information is now available from ALM Research Online in the Lists & Rankings section as the 2007 Law School Hiring Survey. As a bonus, firms also contributed information about how many associates were elevated to partnership in 2007.

Just Released: 2007 NLJ Billing Survey

The 2007 NLJ Billing Survey is now available in spreadsheet format through ALM Research Online in the Lists & Rankings section. The National Law Journal's survey of billing rates of the largest law firms in the U.S. provides the high, low, average and median billing rates for partners and associates, and this year also includes associate class billing data, and firmwide average and median billing rates. This spreadsheet product is available free to subscribers, and for $295 to non-subscribers. A report of the survey appeared in the Dec. 10th issue of The National Law Journal.

Minority Associates Survey

The Minority Law Journal’s fall issue carries a report of the Minority Associates Survey, including stories about The Woman Question – why female associates of color are less satisfied with life and work at large firms than male associates of color -- and Exit Strategies – why minority lawyers say goodbye to their firms. The MLJ on-line magazine is available with free registration.

Webinar on Law Firm Rankings

Law Journal Newsletter’s Web Audio Division is hosting a webinar called Law Firm Rankings: Nominations That Get Noticed and Have Impact. It's scheduled for Thursday, December 6, 2007 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST. Panelists include Liz Lindley, Director of Jaffe Associates' RankingsForLawyers service; Kristen Chatterton, Marketing Services Manager, Hunton & Williams; Stephen Nelson, Managing Principal, Law & Government Affairs, The McCormick Group; and Katrina Dewey, Publisher, Lawdragon. To register and save 25% by registering online, click here.

Survey of Summer Associates: Size Matters

According to The American Lawyer, in reporting on the results of its annual Summer Associates Survey, “small is beautiful.” Only four of the top 20 firms had summer programs with more than 100 summer associates, while nine of the top 20 hired 30 or fewer. Still, the firms in the top five spots were not exactly boutiques: Nutter McClennan, Fox Rothschild, Buchanan Ingersoll, Morgan Lewis, and Mintz Levin.

Subscribers to ALM Research Online should note that this survey is one of the few not archived in our on-line database. However, in-depth management reports of a firm’s survey results—including, for instance, a comparison of the results from each of the firm’s participating offices—are offered through ALM Reprints.

Surveys: 6th Annual Plaintiffs’ Hot List

According to the editors of National Law Journal’s sixth annual Plaintiffs' Hot List, plaintiffs' attorneys racked up impressive verdicts and settlements in the usual areas like securities fraud and products liability since last year, while exploring fresh ground against self-serving managers and controlling shareholders in corporate deal-making. Hot plaintiff’s firms are not your usual suspects: Berger & Montague; Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz; Bernstein Litowitz; Coughlin Stoia; Grant & Eisenhofer; Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro; Korein Tillery; Labaton Sucharow; Lieff Cabraser; Phillips & Cohen; Schiffrin Barroway; Seeger Weiss; Whatley Drake & Kallas.

Recent Release: 2007 NLJ 250

The 2007 electronic NLJ 250 provides demographics of the nation's largest law firms, and rankings based on the number of full-time attorneys. Data included in the spreadsheet includes: total number of attorneys, equity partners, non-equity partners & associates, starting salaries for first-year associates, branch office locations and number of attorneys by branch office, key marketing contacts, and more. This product is available free to subscribers and may be accessed in the ALM Research Store. Non-subscribers may purchase this searchable, sortable spreadsheet for $400.

Top Law Firms in Marketing and Communications

The Marketing the Law Firm newsletter has just released its third annual list of the MLF 50, aka/The Top Law Firms in Marketing and Communications. We can only let you know that Proskauer Rose garnered the top spot, but the story and the rest of the rankings are pay-per-view. But then again, it’s only $15, and a subscription to the newsletter is only $409 for electronic format. Elizabeth Anne “Betiayn” Tursi, the editor in chief, wrote in-depth profiles of each of the top five firms and their marketing/communications leaders. To find out more, click here.

Diversity News and Information

Which firms have made the best efforts to foster diversity? Take a look at the annual Diversity Scorecard, published each spring by ALM Media’s magazine, The Minority Law Journal. The searchable spreadsheet includes numbers of U.S. partners and associates who are minorities, as well as the percentage of women attorneys at NLJ 250 and Am Law 200 firms. It is available through ALM Research Online in the Lists & Rankings section. Subscribers to ALM Research Online have access to all years’ data (1984, 1985, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2001-2006).

We mention this because there have been a surge of reports about diversity in law firms and legal departments lately. The National Law Journal’s October 11th Law Firms Newsletter was completely devoted to the issue of diversity, with articles on Why Patches Won’t Work, Diverse Attorneys Need Reasons to Stay, The Challenge of Diversity Begins with Law School and several other topics.

Our newspaper in Atlanta, Fulton County Daily Report, reported that Fortune 500 Companies are Seeing More Minority GCs, with a report based on the latest survey from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association . Progress has been mixed for minorities, according to the report. The number of African Americans in Fortune 500 GC jobs continues to grow slowly, with 22 now holding such posts -- one fewer than last year. But the total of all minority GCs is up from 32 last year, and the number of Asian-American GCs has doubled, from 6 to 12. Unfortunately, a huge disparity in gender continues among Fortune 500 general counsel of color

The ABA Journal Newsletter that Cleary Gottlieb had topped the Diversity Rankings compiled by Law Students Building a Better Profession, using data published by NALP (National Association for Legal Placement). The study found that about a third of New York firms had no Hispanic, African-American, or Asian-American partners. Female partners were even less well-represented.

But many firms have made a concerted effort to promote diversity within the ranks. Bryan Cave recently named its first diversity officer (Tina Harris), according the a recent Hildebrandt Headlines posting, and Perkins Coie hired a new director of diversity and professional development—Theresa Cropper, who had previously been the national diversity director at DLA Piper.

ALM Research E-Newsletter: Tech Focus

The October/November issue of the ALM Research e-newsletter, NewsLine, went out today. The focus of this issue is Technology. Technology surveys, technology studies, technology reports. Ratings of products, rankings of law firms, products law firms and legal departments are using, trends in budgets and salaries, trends in purchasing.

If you're not already a subscriber to the newsletter, you can access the current NewsLine by clicking here and you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here.