Legal Employment Fell in November Despite US Job Growth Streak
In its latest monthly look at employment in the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that over 1.1 million people worked in legal services in November, down about 2,400 from the prior month.
December 07, 2018 at 12:41 PM
3 minute read
The size of the legal services industry shrunk in November, dropping 2,400 jobs over the prior month, even as the U.S. economy overall gained 155,000 jobs and unemployment remained steady at its lowest rate in nearly half a century, the Department of Labor reported on Friday.
In its latest monthly look at employment in the U.S., the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics showed some 1,135,700 people worked in legal services in November, a figure that includes lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants and other law-related professions. The BLS data is seasonally adjusted and provisional, meaning it could be revised in later months.
November's dip in legal sector jobs follows two straight months of job growth. According to revised data released on Friday, the legal services industry added 1,400 jobs in September and 200 more in October.
With the 2,400 jobs lost in November, the total number of people employed in legal services drops close to 2018's monthly lows in February and March. This November's total is also 100 jobs fewer than in November 2017, when the industry employed 1,135,800 people, according to BLS.
The legal sector jobs report follows other, more positive employment-related developments in the industry. Specifically, associates at some law firms learned in November that they would receive a healthy annual bonus for 2018.
A few days before the Thanksgiving holiday, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, as it often does, set a standard for the industry when word came that its associates would receive bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $100,000.
Several other firms swiftly matched the Cravath scale, including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Meanwhile, some recently launched boutique firms—such as Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz and Kaplan Hecker & Fink—surpassed the Cravath levels, with Kaplan Hecker offering bonuses of $25,000 to $130,000 to their associates and Wilkinson Walsh offering 150 percent of the Cravath scale, a range of $22,500 to $150,000.
Despite the lower legal sector job numbers, the U.S. economy as a whole had a more positive employment outlook in November, the labor agency reported.
The country added 155,000 jobs over last month's total in October, according to BLS data. That figure continues a more than eight-year streak of continuous monthly job growth, but it also falls short of the 198,000 jobs that Wall Street economists reportedly expected the economy to add in November.
The national unemployment rate remained flat at 3.7 percent, staying at a historical low that hasn't been seen since the Vietnam War era in the late-1960s, according to historical BLS data.
The unemployment and job growth numbers also came as wages ticked up in November. Employees on private, nonfarm payrolls saw their average hourly earnings increase by 6 cents, reaching $27.35 per hour. That amounts to an 81 cent wage hike over the course of 2018—an increase of 3.1 percent during that time frame, BLS said.
Read More:
Legal Jobs Up in October Amid Rosy US Employment Report
A Week Early, Cravath Kicks Off Associate Bonus Season
Two Boutiques Helmed by Paul Weiss Vets Top Cravath Bonus Scale
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllThree Akin Sports Lawyers Jump to Employment Firm Littler Mendelson
Brownstein Adds Former Interior Secretary, Offering 'Strategic Counsel' During New Trump Term
2 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Plaintiff Argues Jury's $22M Punitive Damages Finding Undermines J&J's Talc Trial Win
- 2Bannon's Fraud Trial Delayed One Week as New, 'More Aggressive,' Defense Attorneys Get Ready
- 3'AI-Generated' Case References? This African Law Firm Is Under Investigation
- 4John Deere Annual Meeting Offers Peek Into DEI Strife That Looms for Companies Nationwide
- 5Why Associates in This Growing Legal Market Are Leaving Their Firms
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250