The Brief:
US firms like Paul Weiss and Milbank are hiring law students before they receive their first grades, chasing the best talent early.
Australian firms are cutting grad numbers for now, but the same AI pressure raises the question of whether we’re headed for the same scramble.
AI is squeezing junior lawyer hiring everywhere. How firms are responding is where it gets interesting.
The US scramble
Paul Weiss, Simpson Thacher and Milbank are opening applications before Christmas, for first-year law students chasing 2028 summer associate roles. That’s the entry ticket to a permanent job paying up to US$235k.
To put that into perspective, US law schools start in August. First semester exams don’t land until December. So “before Christmas” means firms are hiring students three to four months into their degree. Before a single grade even exists.
Cooley CEO Rachel Proffitt told the Financial Times: “We are talking sometimes to law students that have not even had a first semester of grades, which is crazy.” “Most of them don’t even know what they want to do,” she said.
The American Bar Association isn’t a fan. It’s warned that the trend is fuelling anxiety and locking out students without existing connections.
Firms are also paying to keep students off the market. Davis Polk offered US$25k to students who would commit to its 2027 summer program early, provided they spent 2026 interning at a non-profit, in government or in academia (anywhere but a rival firm). Cravath, long the market rate-setter, set its 2027 cohort’s pay at US$4,327 a week.
So, why the rush?
US firms think AI is going to shrink how many junior lawyers they need. But fewer roles doesn’t mean less competition; it means more. If everyone’s only hiring a handful of juniors, everyone wants the same handful. So the fight shifts from headcount to speed. Whoever locks in the sharpest students first wins.
The local picture
Back home, MinterEllison was the first major Aussie firm to admit AI is eating entry-level work, slashing its grad cohort by almost a third. Across the top eight firms, grad hiring is down 7% year-on-year.
An early scramble like the US is unlikely here. Clerkship applications, interviews and offers all run on dates set centrally by each state’s law society, so most firms don’t jump the queue.
But a fixed calendar doesn’t mean a fixed outcome. If AI keeps shrinking junior intake, the same top students could end up fighting over fewer offers. If so, the bar for landing a grad role will only get higher.
Source: Financial Times