Since 2008, the demand for legal services has steeply declined.  According to The National Law Journal, the total number of attorneys working at the 250 largest U.S. law firms, dropped by 5,259 from October 2008 to September 2009, a 4 percent decline. But while U.S. legal employment has decreased, outsourcing legal services to other countries such as India has increased, forcing other law firms to find ways to cut costs so they can remain competitive. One of these “cut costs” has been the salaries of junior associates. Some law firms are lowering first-year associate salaries and billing rates. Other law firms plan to introduce new training programs that also have low salaries for junior associates participating in the programs. And others have announced that they will be abandoning the class system altogether along with its associated lockstep salary structure. What does this mean for legal recruiters and their ability to recruit quality candidates?  

1. Recruiters may find it difficult to recruit associates for law firms who have made significant salary cuts.   The recruitment process may be longer and more difficult.
2. Candidates recruited for positions with lower pay may not remain in those positions, creating a possible high turnover rate in associate programs.
3. If recruiters are able to recruit candidates for associate positions, those candidates may be of lower quality as candidate from top-tier schools have better options.