New NALP Deadline for Accepting Summer Offers: 45 Days

Under commonly accepted recruiting guidelines, second-year law students have been able to ponder several summer associate offers for months at a time. No more.

New guidelines adopted by NALP for a trial period now require second-years to decide within 45 days whether to accept a law firm's offer of summer employment, reports the National Law Journal. NALP's board decided earlier this month to adopt the 45-day deadline for one year, and will consider making the rule change permanent if it is well-received.

Law firm recruiters say an earlier deadline will make their jobs easier by helping them predict the makeup of their summer class sooner and tailor offers accordingly.

However, Daniel Suvor, who chairs the ABA Law Student Division, says it has an "upside and a downside." While students will no longer be able to stockpile offers for months, the new regime also "shortens a process that naturally takes a long time," he says.

NALP, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., was formerly known as the National Association for Law Placement.