Career & Practice
BigLaw drives new grad hiring, new NALP study shows
The law school class of 2025 found jobs at near record rates, with BigLaw hiring remaining solid as federal government hiring dried up, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement. (Image from Shutterstock)
The law school class of 2025 found jobs at near record rates, with BigLaw hiring remaining solid as federal government hiring dried up, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement.
Overall, 92.8% of 2025 graduates had landed jobs by mid-March, a slight decline from a year earlier, when a record 93.4% graduates had jobs in the same time frame, the study found. Of the new grads with jobs, 83.9% had full-time, long-term bar jobs with bar admissions required or anticipated, according to the study.
Hiring by large law firms with 500 or more lawyers made up 33.2% of all firm jobs for the graduates, the NALP reports. And hiring by private practice increased to 60.9%, up 2 percentage points from a year earlier.
The federal government jobs took a tumble, with the number of 2025 grads who found jobs decreasing by 37%, from nearly 1,100 class of 2024 grads to 690 class of 2025 grads, according to the study. Public service employers hired 31% of 2025 grads, decreasing from 32.7% a year earlier.
The national median salary for employed law graduates was reported at $100,000, the study found.
Law360 also has coverage.
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