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The end of elitism in BigLaw?

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The nation’s largest law firms have long let prestige drive their hiring practices. But the recent economic woes — ripe with layoffs and lower billing rates — have awakened BigLaw to a new reality. And the result may be good news for law students outside of the traditional “elite” schools.

The recession that has ripped through the law firm world — resulting in massive layoffs, reduced summer classes and deferred start dates — may finally be bringings its hiring system to its need.

For years, the nation’s elite law firms predominately hired from the nation’s elite law schools. It was a self-perpetuating system, purportedly established by Paul Cravath in the 1920s, but was in reality based on prestige.

Now, however, the nation’s largest law firms have laid off an estimated 5,632 attorneys since January 2008, according to LawShucks, a Web site that tracks law firm layoffs.

More than half of the class of 2009 graduates saw their start dates deferred past Dec. 1, 2009. And law firms hired fewer associates and summer associates in 2009.

The 20 largest feeder schools to law firms in 2008 saw a 17 percent drop in the number of students who were hired in 2009, according to data collected by The National Law Journal. For example, Columbia Law School saw 70.5 percent of their graduates land a job with one of the largest 250 law firms in 2008, and only 54.5 percent in 2009.

“The economic slowdown made 2009 a very challenging year for students graduating from the nationa’s top law schools,” said David Brown, editor-in-chief of The National Law Journal. “Our list shows just how tough it was for many to move from law schools to first-year jobs at the largest firms in the country.”

But what started with massive layoffs, reduced summer classes and deferred start dates is now moving into more fundamental changes, including a move away from lock-step salary increases and a move toward apprenticeship training at the firms.

And while these changes appear to take law firms away from the hiring and training system that Paul Cravath set up for Cravath, Swaine & Moore in the 1920s, they actually harken back to that original system.

Jack Crittenden

Jack Crittenden

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