Thousands of students a year from top US law schools flock to white-shoe law firms, which dangle starting pay of roughly $245,000 in exchange for long hours and intense demands from corporate clients.
For many, that tradeoff has been worth it — at least for short time — to get out from an average debt load of $118,000.
The firms all have their specialties and quirks, but have typically been considered a monolith: Big Law. In the Trump era, however, students are attempting to draw dividing lines.
At Georgetown Law, a student group canceled a recruiting event with Skadden Arps, one of the major firms that struck
Caleb Frye, a second-year law student at Georgetown and a co-president of the group, said he understands the stark financial reality facing many of his peers nationwide. The goal, he said, is to persuade those who have choices to pick firms who have stood up to the government’s unprecedented encroachment and rebuke those that backed down.
“We know we’re not going to convince people to not apply to Skadden en masse, but we want Skadden to know they are not going to get the very best candidates,” said Frye, who once hoped to work there because of its renewable energy focus.
Skadden did not respond to a request for comment.
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Any lasting shift in firms’ recruitment pipelines could be consequential to an industry that’s constantly in competition for top clients and deals, while also grappling with how advances in artificial intelligence will reshape its workforce. In recent years they’ve brought in massive
Big Law’s traditionally large pool of jobs could be seen as something of a haven at a time when young workers are facing a challenging labor market across the board, with layoffs in recent years making it hard to secure an entry-level position. Many have been seeking graduate degrees in a bid to gain an edge. That includes law school: applications are up 23% so far this cycle compared with last year.
Still, earning a law degree isn’t a guarantee for a high-paying job. In fact, one in five new grads work in roles that don’t strictly require bar admission, according to the American Bar Association.
The controversy over the Trump administration’s deals “doesn’t change the economics of how much debt people take on versus the salaries they’re looking at,” said Anna Ivey, founder of admissions consulting firm Ivey Consulting. “It’s rare someone in their 20s fresh out of grad school has six-figure jobs being thrown at them.”
Despite the skepticism over any boycott of top firms that have cut deals with the Trump administration, which also includes Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Willkie Farr and Simpson Thacher, there’s also a sense of relief among those who are set to work at a place that aligns with their view of the standoff between the government and Big Law.
Bryce Tuttle, a second-year student at Stanford Law School, said he was pleased to see that Selendy Gay, the firm he plans to work at this summer, signed an amicus brief in opposition to Trump targeting the firm Perkins Coie. Of the more than 500 firms to sign the brief, less than a dozen rank in the Vault 100 list of prestigious law firms.
But Tuttle said his peers who have taken positions with firms that struck deals with Trump are reckoning with the changed environment. None plan to decline those offers, he said, but they are considering trying to find alternative options. Those who haven’t signed on with a firm yet are also being choosier, he said.
“Folks are very concerned about their loans,” said Tuttle. “Those who don’t have choices, I don’t know how it’s going to affect them. I know for the students who have options, very few are going to consider these firms anymore.”
For others, the Trump deals have solidified their decision to shun the Big Law grind entirely.
Belle Allmendinger, a first-year student at Georgetown Law, briefly considered applying to an elite firm to pay off their projected $300,000 in student loans. Instead, Allmendinger is looking at public interest work with an eye toward qualifying for some loan forgiveness down the line.
It’s a potentially riskier move to take financially. While the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program allows for those working for the government or nonprofits to shed their loans after 10 years of following an income-driven repayment plan, the Trump administration has also taken steps to gut the Education Department and rethink how its programs are conducted.
“It’s infuriating to see the big firms caving so easily,” Allmendinger said. “It’s sending shockwaves for a lot of students who wanted to work for them. But sometimes we are forced into positions where we have to take what we can get.”
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