It appears New Orleans has narrowly avoided Gustav but some legal recruits may not be so lucky. US law firms, battered by the downturn and widespread layoffs, are preparing to make offers to second-year law students for the 2009 ­summer associate programme. ­Historically, at least 95 per cent of summer associates are hired the following autumn and as US firms traditionally make offers to the majority of their summer interns, decisions made over the next few weeks could ­determine the new-lawyer intake for 2010.

But for new starters in the more immediate environment, here’s a nugget of news from Above the Law:

“ With starting attorney salaries reaching $160,000 a year, delaying new-hire dates is one way to trim expenses. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which has 186 attorneys in Chicago and a substantial real estate practice, pushed back starting dates for seven lawyers by two months, to mid-November, a spokeswoman says.

So add Sonnenschein to the list of firms that have delayed start dates for incoming associates. Just like no-offering summer associates, pushing back starting dates is less than ideal. But as we wondered on Friday, such measures may be the lesser of multiple evils (with lawyer layoffs as a greater evil — although some firms have done both).

P.S. Lee Miller might want to coordinate better with his public-relations team. The DLA Piper PR folks previously explained that the change in start dates was made “to provide a uniform start date across all our offices… [and] to have a uniform orientation process.” But Miller tells Crain’s that it’s the economy, stupid:

“Any firm that isn’t careful in this economy is nuts,” says Lee Miller, joint CEO of DLA, Chicago’s eighth-biggest law firm. Mr. Miller says the firm also plans to cut next summer’s recruiting class by as much as one-fifth. “The transactional practices are slower, mirroring the economy, and the capital markets are in turbulent times,” he says.“

And one New York partner said “I would predict that all of the leading US firms will offer virtually all of their 2008 summer associates jobs,” . “It’s standard practice to do so. Firms are concerned that if they don’t, their reputations will suffer. It would immediately be seen as a sign of weakness.”

So how will we fare over this side of the Atlantic? No grade four hurricanes for us but we can’t avoid the credit crunch and if Alistair Darling is to be believed we’re all doomed. According to Shaun Goodman, London-based recruitment partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton “One of the advantages of the leading US firms over UK firms is that they don’t have such rigid departmental structures,” says Goodman. “US associates handle a range of areas from the outset before they choose to specialise. That means US firms shouldn’t suddenly have a glut of lawyers in one area where there’s no work.” Lucky them….

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