The National Law Journal's 2009 Law Schools Report

Despite the economic nosedive that began gaining momentum in 2008, the nation's biggest law firms hired just about the same percentage of graduates from top schools last year as they did the year before. At the same time, NLJ 250 firms brought aboard more graduates from the 20 schools that they relied on the most, which themselves had larger classes. The development suggests that law firms were not well positioned for the recession they now face — and that big firms may be forced to rethink the traditional hiring model.