27.5% of Morgan Lewis Summer Associates Get Offers—for 2011

Providing further evidence of a paradigm shift in BigLaw practice, Morgan Lewis & Bockius says that less than one-third of its summer class will get offers of permanent employment—starting a year later than usual.

The Philadelphia-based international firm is offering jobs as permanent associates to 27.5 percent of the second-year law students participating in its 2009 summer program—to start in 2011, a year after they graduate, reports the Legal Intelligencer in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).

The others will get letters of explanation to help demonstrate to prospective employers that they are still desirable hires, according to the legal publication. And, if the legal market picks up, the firm will consider them for positions in 2011, too.

In the future, Morgan Lewis may handle its summer hiring on a different schedule, says Eric Kraeutler, who serves as firmwide hiring partner.

"I think that there are going to be some adjustments that are going to be long-term and one of the things that we’re looking hard at is the fact that the traditional recruiting process occurs so far in advance of the hiring date," he tells the Intelligencer. "The candidates we’re interviewing are for positions two years out. That’s a long time for us. I think we’re going to take a hard look at that."