Philadelphia Legal Market
Market Overview
Philadelphia has a very established mid-sized legal community, offers opportunities in just about every practice area, and nearly twenty AmLaw 100 firms have offices in the city. Philadelphia has a very large corporate practice, as a result of the fact that the Philadelphia region is home to 14 Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore, there is somewhat of a lack of development of large law firms in the nearby corporate center of Wilmington, Delaware, which has fueled Philadelphia’s growth in this field. Aside from corporate law, other current strong practice areas in Philadelphia are intellectual property, insurance and healthcare, labor and employment, antitrust, real estate, and municipal and bond work. Litigators, with niche practice areas, are also in high demand.
Practice Area Overview
What’s Hot?
- Corporate
- Real Estate
- Intellectual Property
- Healthcare
What’s Not?
- Tax
- Trusts & Estates
- Labor & Employment – steady work, but firms are generally slow to add headcount
- Litigation – except for those with niche practice areas
Recruiting Outlook
Philadelphia can be a tough market to break into without ties to the area or a demonstrated interest in being in the area. Interested students should be able to identify ties or a reason that Philadelphia is particularly attractive to them. Georgetown Law is highly regarded in this market and a Georgetown Law degree will go far in this town for those candidates with ties/demonstrated interest and focused practice areas.
Philadelphia Market Resources
Check out the links below for more information regarding the Philadelphia legal market, networking opportunities, and job listings.