Skadden Arps Slashes Law School Hires for Summer of 2010

Bloomberg reports:

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the top-grossing U.S. law firm, cut the number of law school students it plans to hire next summer by about half.

The firm hired 225 law school students this summer and expects to hire less than half of that for summer 2010, Skadden recruiting partner Howard Ellin said yesterday in an interview.

“Our expectation, and we have been upfront and honest about this, is that our summer program will be less than half of what it was this year,” Ellin said in a telephone interview from Harvard Law School, where he was conducting on-campus interviews. “It reflects lower demand in the industry.”

Early this year, the largest U.S. law firms began firing junior lawyers, delaying the start dates of first-year associates and revamping compensation models. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP have said they won’t hire students for summer jobs in 2010.

Yet some politicians want to encourage more people to go to law school with taxpayer funded support.