The NALP Foundation Releases Latest Update on Associate Attrition and Hiring (CY 25)

The NALP Foundation has released its newest annual Update on Associate Attrition, an extensive report on law firms’ associate hiring and departures during 2025. The Foundation has produced this signature report for more than 20 years.

The 2025 data from 141 participating firms in the U.S. and Canada, detailing 6,335 associate hires and 4,442 associate departures, revealed both ongoing trends and notable shifts:

Associate Attrition
• The overall average associate attrition rate was 19%, down slightly from 2024’s 20%.
• For the second year in a row, firms of 100 or fewer attorneys had a substantially higher attrition rate (24%) than all four larger firm size cohorts (which ranged from 16% to 18%).

Associate Departures
• Participating firms again reported an overall net gain in their total associate population relative to departures, with monthly departure levels fluctuating between 6% to 10%, and slightly higher departure rates reported in the first half of the year than in the second half (52% vs.48%)
• A record-breaking 83% of associates who departed in 2025 left their firms within five years of hire, up from 2024’s 80%.

Associate Hiring
• Overall associate hiring among participating firms increased to 6,335 from 2024’s 6,092 but remained well below 2021 and 2022’s all-time record levels. In contrast to last year, the total number of lateral hires (3,296) exceeded entry-level hires (3,039) in 2025, reverting to norms for the prior years.
• Former associates remained an important talent source for participating firms in 2025; however, the level of firms reporting they rehired at least one former associate decreased to 44% vs. 2024’s 49%. In 2025, boomerang associates were 6% of all associate hires, down from 2024’s 11%.

“While overall attrition levels stayed relatively stable, the continuing trend of both entry-level and lateral associates leaving their firms earlier merits close attention as a talent management imperative,” noted NALP Foundation President & CEO Fiona S. Trevelyan.

The 2025 report breaks out associate hiring and attrition by firm size as well as departing associates’ demographic cohorts. This year’s study includes new information on how AI affected associates’ careers, including whether a desire for support or training in AI resources influenced associates’ decisions to leave their firms, providing important benchmarking information as law firms continue to adapt to and adopt AI tools.

The report also compares entry-level vs. lateral hiring, as well as assessing recruitment timing for entry-level associates, sources for firms’ lateral hires, boomerang associates, reasons for leaving firms, and associates’ next professional positions.

The full report in PDF format is available for purchase from The NALP Foundation at www.nalpfoundation.org/bookstore.