The market(s) for law grads

A new report from the NALP surveys law grads who graduated in 2010 about their employment status as of February 15, 2011, under the headline Class of 2010 Graduates Faced Worst Job Market Since Mid-1990s.

"The percentage of private practice jobs with large law firms of 501 attorneys or more fell more than five percentage points in a single year to 20.5% for the Class of 2010 compared to 25.6% for the Class of 2009. On the other end of the scale, jobs with firms of two to ten lawyers represented 39.1% of all private practice jobs taken by members of this class, a rise of seven and a half percentage points in two years, up from 31.6% for the Class of 2008. And, the number of graduates reporting that they are working as solo practitioners has similarly soared over two years from 3.3% of all private practice jobs for the Class of 2008 to 5.7% for the Class of 2010. Taken together, jobs at firms of 50 or fewer lawyers accounted for 59% of all private practice jobs."
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The NY Times reports on the growth of non-partner tracks in large law firms:
At Well-Paying Law Firms, a Low-Paid Corner,
and on some lower paid American jobs that compete with legal work that has been sent to overseas firms--
Legal Outsourcing Firms Creating Jobs for American Lawyers