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Attrition rate is ‘markedly higher’ for associates of color, NALP Foundation says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 29, 2025, 9:19 am CDT

The attrition rate for associates in law firms was 20% in 2024, up from 18% in 2023 but still lower than the historic high of 26% in 2021, according to the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education.

The attrition rate was slightly higher for females than males, at 22% and 20% respectively, and was “markedly higher” for associates of color, at 24% compared to 19% for white associates, according to selected findings from the NALP Foundation’s newest annual Update on Associate Attrition, a detailed report on firms’ associate hiring and departures for 2024.

An April 24 press release summarized the findings.

More associates are leaving in a shorter time frame than in the past, according to the data from 119 reporting firms in the United States and Canada. In 2024, 74% of associates left their firms within four years of their hiring, up from a high of 72% in 2023. That is a departure from the five-year historical pattern for departures.

The survey also found an increase in hiring and departures at the surveyed firms. In 2024, 6,092 associates were hired by reporting firms, up from 5,236 in 2023. The number who left—4,125 associates—was also higher than in 2023, when 3,875 associates left firms.

Fifty-five percent of new associates were hired at the entry level, rather than laterally. The difference is even more pronounced in the largest firms of more than 1,000 lawyers, where 61% of associate hires were at the entry level.

Fiona Trevelyan Hornblower, the president and CEO of the NALP Foundation, sees some trends in the findings.

“This new data shows shifts in the talent market are emerging, with the rise in entry level recruiting, as well as earlier departures by associates,” Hornblower said in the press release.

More larger than smaller firms responded to the survey. Only 17% of responding firms had 100 or fewer lawyers. Thirty-seven percent of the firms had more than 500 attorneys.

Law.com covered the results.

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Lateral hiring bounced back in 2024, especially for associates in BigLaw, new NALP report says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 26, 2025, 3:49 pm CDT

Lateral hiring of law firm associates increased nearly 25% in 2024, far outpacing a much smaller increase of about 2% in lateral hiring of partners, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement.

Overall, lateral hiring in firms increased nearly 14%, according to a March 26 press release and a report in the April NALP Bulletin.

The increase was highest in firms with more than 1,000 lawyers, which had an overall 21% increase in lateral hiring and a 41% in lateral associate hiring.

The increase follows two down years “characterized by a retreat of BigLaw firms from the marketplace, which created an opportunity for savvy small firms to pick up some top-notch talent,” said Nikia Gray, executive director of the NALP, in the press release. “In 2024, the lateral market began to stabilize, and with that, we saw the BigLaw firms reentering the fray, largely driving the smaller firms out of the market.”

Lateral hiring increased 110.9% in 2021, decreased 11.5% in 2022, decreased 35% in 2023 and increased 13.9% in 2024.

The average number of lateral hires per office or firm was 16 in 2021, 15.9 in 2022, 9.3 in 2023 and 9.9 in 2024. The lowest average in the last 25 years was was 5.1 lateral hires per office or firm in 2009.

The report is based on a survey of 434 law offices that supplied hiring information on 4,295 lateral lawyers. Most of the respondents were from midsize and larger firms. Only 11% of the survey respondents came from firms of 250 or fewer lawyers.

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