As if law school weren't competitive enough, Am Law 200 firms are making rising second- and third-year law students work even harder to secure a spot among the dwindling number of summer associate positions offered in Big Law. Year over year, summer hires decreased an average of 2.02 percent at the 92 Am Law 200 firms participating in our Summer Associates Survey.

Still, the rewards got slightly better. The average salary for an Am Law 200 summer associate at surveyed firms is $3,285 per week, up 11.36 percent from last year, according to early data from the survey.

Among the firms responding to the survey, New York City remained the location with the most reported summer hires at 2,175, followed by Chicago with 311, Los Angeles with 299, and Boston with 222.