Am Law 100 Firm Defers Making Offers To Current Summer Associates Until 2024

Thanks to drastic changes in client demand, quite a few Biglaw firms have opted to defer their incoming associate classes to January 2024. But now, an Am Law 100 firm is putting a whole new twist on the deferral, and this time, current law students will bear the brunt of the decision.

Global immigration giant Fragomen -- a firm that brought in $947,647,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it in 56th place on the Am Law 100, and making it the 75th highest grossing firm in the world per the Global 200 -- has chosen to defer making offers to its current summer associates until early 2024. Yikes. Making third-year law students wait that long to find out whether they'll need to scramble to find a job is insensitive and inconsiderate, to say the very least.

Salvador Malo, Fragomen's chief people officer, offered the following statement to the American Lawyer:

"As our hiring practices--whether for summer associates or other legal and professional staff--follow client needs and immigration policy changes around the world, we do not make blanket offers each year at the end of our summer associate program. We extended offers in 2022 and have informed the current class that we will be making decisions in early 2024 when client needs can be assessed more accurately."

Fragomen did not offer comment on whether the firm has made law students wait to receive offers beyond the end of the summer in years past. Over on Fishbowl, one summer associate said they were "no offered due to 'financial reasons' and told to reach back out in 2024."

Unfortunately, the tides have turned for those seeking H-1Bs, with applications vastly over the current limit of 85,000 visas. For Fragomen, this spells trouble thanks to the unavailability of H-1B cap-subject petitions. This has led to layoffs and job losses across the country in a number of industries, including the legal profession.

Meanwhile, the firm boosted its head count by 20.2% over the course of 2022, and now has about 6,000 total employees across the globe. Last year, Fragomen hosted its largest summer associate class ever (76). The firm posted its 2024 hiring notice for summer associates just two days ago, which contains the following language: "This is not a traditional Summer Associate Program. Associate offers are contingent on performance, future business needs and are not guaranteed."

Best of luck to Fragomen's summer associates who are now unsure what their employment prospects with the firm look like.

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Fragomen Defers Hiring Decisions on Current Summer Associates to Early 2024 [American Lawyer]

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she's worked since 2011. She'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.