National Law Journal’s 2009 List of the 250 Largest Law Firms

A story in today’s law.com summarizes the results of this year’s NLJ 250 sruvey.  Among the more interesting findings are:

1.  Many firms’ attorney head count had dropped to their 2005 levels

2.  The number of associates at the top 250 firms had dropped an average of 8.7%, reversing a trend of rapid year on year growth since 2004

3.  45% of the NLJ 250 firms deferred their incoming associates

4.  42% of graduates heading to NLJ 250 firms were deferred

You should read the whole article, which contains lots of detail about specific firms.