The New Law School Recruitment: Is the Race for “Top Candidates” Actually a Race to the Bottom?

By: Katelyn Graham

            Despite first-year grades for law students coming out at the same time each year, law firms continue to push their recruitment timeline earlier. As a result, students are forced to submit applications without receiving grades, and firms are basing decisions upon an incomplete picture. Reports show that in 2024, 78% of job offers for summer programs after the second year of law school were given before August.[1] However, in 2023, only 45% of job offers were extended before August, showing a rapid change in just a year’s time.[2]

As for job offers after 1L, these timelines have been pushed up as well. In previous years, firms would open applications in November or December, still too early for first-semester grades to have come out, but more reasonable than the new application timeline.[3] Now, first-year law students are being recruited for summer positions at the beginning of October.[4] This shift is the most shocking, as at this point, many first-years have not even taken an exam. Most have only been in law school for a couple of months. And in some firms, they are even recruiting first-years for both their 1L and 2L summers simultaneously.[5]

            While Big Law and other firms have traditionally based hiring on grades and class rank, this new shift towards earlier recruitment indicates that those metrics may not matter anymore. There is an inconsistency between the traditional model of recruiting for class rank, and the rising trend of earlier application dates— now, employment decisions are made before 1Ls obtain their first semester grades or before 2Ls obtain their first year of grades from law school. It begs the question: how did we get to this point? Because it seems as if the race to the top for the best candidates has become a race to the bottom.

Recruiting Origins

            Law firm recruiting remained mostly unchanged from the 1960s to the early 2020s.[6] Traditionally, firms would send recruiters to law schools in the fall, hoping to capture their future associates in these initial 2L interviews.[7] After the first round of interviews, students would be invited to in-person callback interviews taking place at the firm’s office.[8] Once a student made it through callbacks, they would be offered a summer associate position, usually transforming into an offer for an associate position after graduation.[9]

            However, the COVID-19 virus changed the way our society interacted, taking the once in-person recruitment experience into the digital realm.[10] Law schools had to cancel their On Campus Interview programs, as COVID made in-person gatherings infeasible.[11] In response, law firms were able to do something they had never been able to do before: reach out to the applicants directly.[12] Firms created their own online application portals and started using Zoom to interview applicants virtually.[13] Once COVID restrictions fell, law firms were hesitant to return to the previous On Campus Interview system. During the 2022 recruiting cycle, only 53% of summer associate offers were made through an On Campus Interview, a drastic change from the interviewing system of the past.[14]

            Because of COVID and the start of direct recruitment of law students, campus career services are unable to restrain Big Law and law firm recruitment from this race to the bottom for better candidates at earlier points in the year.[15] It is clear that Big Law and law firms now control the job market, not schools. Thus, students and schools will be forced to work with the ever-shortening application deadlines until firms decide to change their ways or someone puts a stop to it.

Effects of the New System

            As recruitment deadlines continue to creep forward, students and application materials will be heavily impacted. First, earlier recruitment means that recruiters have to make employment decisions based on maybe a semester’s worth of grades. This reliance on only the beginning of a law student’s academic performance can be unfair to students who may not have started law school as strong but have improved their performance as time went on. It also may provide an inaccurate representation of students who may do very well in their first semester and then do not perform as well the rest of law school.

Second, this recruiting timeline encourages students to work extremely hard in their first semester of law school and not put forth as much effort once they receive their job offer. As previously mentioned, many law firms are offering 1Ls summer positions that have the potential to become a full-time associate offer. Because of this possibility, firms have created an incentive for 1Ls to go all out in their first semester or first year of law school and put in less effort the rest of the time. Law students work hard to achieve good grades so they can receive a good job. However, if a 1L knows that they have a position that will likely turn into a full-time offer post-graduation, there is little motivation for them to try and achieve a top rank in the class.

Finally, because the new recruiting timeline is starting earlier, students with connections and from more prestigious law schools are being recruited over other candidates. If firms have to bet on students with little to no grades available, it will be easier for them to choose someone from a higher-ranked law school. Picking prospects this way provides the firms with a sense of security that the individual will do well because they are from a prestigious school. This system also disadvantages first-generation students who have no connections to law firms. Again, choosing a student with connections to the firm is a safer bet when there is little information to base hiring decisions on.

Where Do We Go from Here?

            The rapidly advancing law firm application deadlines, firms are doing students a disservice by requiring applications so soon in the school year. Law firms are essentially placing early bets on which students will be “top candidates,” disadvantaging students who may flourish later on or who don’t have the connections to secure such positions. Unless law firms revert to previous timelines or schools begin to push back, law firms will continue to hold the power, forcing students to cope with this system for the foreseeable future.

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[1] James Leipold, The Rapidly Changing Face of Law Firm Recruitment, LSAC (Mar. 25, 2025), https://www.lsac.org/blog/rapidly-changing-face-law-firm-recruitment; National Jurist Editors, Law Firms No Longer Prioritizing On-Campus Interviewing to Recruit, The Nat’l Jurist (Mar. 13, 2025),https://nationaljurist.com/law-firms-no-longer-prioritizing-on-campus-interviewing-to-recruit/.

[2] Id.

[3] Dan Roe, “None of Us Like It”: How Expedited Summer Associate Recruiting Affects Law Students and the Firms Hiring Them, LAW.COM (Feb. 5, 2025), available on LexisNexis.

[4] See 2026 Summer Associate Program, Simpson Thacher,https://www.stblaw.com/your-career/summer-program/how-to-apply (last visited Oct. 14, 2025); Law Students, Baker Botts, https://www.bakerbotts.com/careers/law-students (last visited Oct. 14, 2025).

[5] Law Students and Entry-Level Lawyers, Jones Day, https://www.jonesday.com/en/careers/positions/law-students-and-entry-level-lawyers (last visited Jan. 23, 2026).

[6] Leipold, supra note 1.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] John Rider, Nobody Wants This: The Creep of the Big Law Offer Cycle, The Harv. L. Rec. (Apr. 14, 2025); Nikia L. Gray, The “Cruel” Recruiting Timeline, NALP (Jan. 2025), https://hlrecord.org/nobody-wants-this-the-creep-of-the-big-law-offer-cycle/.

[11] Gray, supra note 10.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Id.

[15] Rider, supra note 10.