Preliminary data show that legal-services employment rose again in July. But for new lawyers hoping to begin at the country’s largest firms, the legal jobs picture is less straightforward.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in a preliminary estimate that legal services added 1,000 jobs in July, bringing seasonally adjusted employment to 1.2452 million — 21,700 more jobs than in July 2025.
Meanwhile, new data from National Association for Law Placement shows that jobs for Class of 2025 graduates at firms with more than 500 lawyers declined.
The figures are not necessarily at odds. The BLS measures employment across the legal industry, while NALP tracks where a particular class of recent law graduates found work.
Legal Services Are Growing
The BLS data measure total payroll employment in legal services. They do not show how many jobs are held by lawyers, paralegals, or legal assistants; how many are entry-level positions; or how many job openings employers have.
Legal employment rose 1.8% over the past year, from 1.2235 million in July 2025 to 1.2452 million in July 2026. The gain also came as total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 23,000 in July and the unemployment rate stood at 4.1%.
Those industry-wide gains provide a helpful snapshot of the legal economy. They do not, however, answer a more specific question for law students and recent graduates: where did the available jobs go?
The Entry-Level Market Is Mixed
NALP’s Class of 2025 data provides that narrower view. Overall, graduates had strong employment outcomes. Among Class of 2025 graduates with known employment status, 92.8% were employed as of March 16, 2026—the second-highest rate NALP has recorded. A record 84.6% of graduates secured jobs that required or anticipated bar admission.
But the number of jobs obtained by the class fell 7.7%, to 32,619. The graduating class itself declined 7.0%, to 36,206 graduates, helping keep the overall employment rate high despite fewer jobs.
The picture becomes more complicated when the data is broken down by employer type and firm size.
Jobs at the Largest Firms Declined
Firms with more than 500 lawyers employed 6,588 Class of 2025 graduates — about 540 fewer than the prior class, a 7.5% decline. NALP said it was the first decrease in jobs at firms of that size since the Class of 2014.
Those firms nevertheless remained the largest employer category by firm size. They represented 33.2% of all firm jobs secured by the Class of 2025, down from 34.2% for the Class of 2024.
The firm-size data is only one part of the private-practice picture. Looking at law-firm employment overall reveals a similar split between percentages and raw job totals.
Private Practice Took a Bigger Share
Private practice accounted for 60.9% of Class of 2025 jobs, up 2 percentage points from the prior year and the highest share since 1990.
But private-practice employment still declined in raw numbers. The sector employed 19,869 Class of 2025 graduates, down by more than 940 from the prior class. Law-firm jobs therefore made up a larger share of a smaller entry-level market.
Firm size is not the only factor shaping that market. The BLS data does not distinguish between entry-level and experienced hiring, and a separate NALP Foundation survey suggests firms continued to recruit experienced associates in significant numbers.
More Laterals Than Entry-Level Hires
NALP Foundation data from 141 participating U.S. and Canadian firms found that lateral hires outnumbered entry-level associate hires in 2025: 3,296 laterals compared with 3,039 entry-level associates.
The survey does not describe every law firm. But it shows that, among participating firms, employers hired more experienced associates than entry-level associates last year.
The result is a legal market moving in two directions at once. Total legal-services employment is rising, while the number of Class of 2025 graduates landing jobs at the largest firms has fallen. For new lawyers, the headline jobs number tells only part of the story; where employers are adding positions and whether they are seeking recent graduates or experienced laterals matter just as much.
