National Association for Law Placement
National Association for Law Placement (NALP) is a 1971-founded membership association serving more than 3,000 law schools, law firms, and legal employers across North America with employment data, recruiting directories, conferences, and publications for the legal career services profession.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1971
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What National Association for Law Placement does
NALP (National Association for Law Placement, Inc.) is a 501-style membership association founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., serving the legal career services profession across North America. Its core functional role is to convene and equip law school career services offices, law firm recruiting and professional development teams, bar associations, government agencies, and public interest organizations with the data, directories, ethical standards, and professional development programming needed to recruit and develop lawyers. The organization builds and maintains a stack of interconnected digital products: the NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE, with archives from 1979 to present), the Public Service Jobs Directory (PSJD), the Canadian Directory of Legal Employers (CDLE), the NALP Job Center, the NALPconnect members-only community platform, and the NALP Bookstore for research publications.
NALP's business model is a horizontal, B2B membership subscription model priced by organization type and size — law schools pay roughly $1,000-$1,050, U.S. law firms $1,175-$2,350 by headcount, Canadian law firms $1,025-$1,425, government/public interest/bar associations $350, corporate legal organizations $750, and individual tiers ranging from $99 (Alumni) to $850 (Legal Search Consultants). Revenue is diversified across recurring membership dues, conference and event registration (Annual Education Conference, Professional Development Institute, Legal Recruiting Summit, DEI Summits, Public Service Conference, Newer Professionals Forum), and publications such as the Associate Salary Survey, Jobs & J.D.'s, and the annual Report on Diversity. Operating costs are supported by approximately 12-15 full-time staff including an Executive Director (Nikia L. Gray), Deputy Director (Frederick E. Thrasher), and a small bench of Senior Directors and Directors. The organization is governed by a Board elected from member institutions and operates an affiliated nonprofit, the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education, which conducts independent research on the legal career pipeline.
National Association for Law Placement firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- National Association for Law Placement
- Legal name
- National Association for Law Placement, Inc.
- Website
- https://nalp.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1971
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- National Association for Law Placement (NALP) is a 1971-founded membership association serving more than 3,000 law schools, law firms, and legal employers across North America with employment data, recruiting directories, conferences, and publications for the legal career services profession.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
National Association for Law Placement industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Legal Career Services
- NAICS
- Business Associations (813910)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Continuing Education (CE/CPD) & Provider Accreditation Bodies (EDADACAF)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Legal & Compliance (CLE, Paralegal CE) (EDAAALAB)
Keywords
Where National Association for Law Placement is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
National Association for Law Placement business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Membership Dues: Annual membership fees from law schools, law firms, government/public interest organizations, bar associations, and corporate legal organizations. Fees range from $350 to $2,350 per year depending on organization type and size.
- Conference and Event Registration: Revenue from Annual Education Conference, Professional Development Institute, Legal Recruiting Summit, Diversity Equity & Inclusion Summits, and other educational events. Members receive discounted rates.
- Publications and Research Reports: Sales of publications including Associate Salary Survey reports, Jobs & J.D.'s reports, Perspectives on Law Student Recruiting, and other research publications through the NALP Bookstore.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Law Schools: $1,050/yr (New schools: $1,000/yr) |
| Subscription | Annual | U.S. Law Firms by Size: $1,175-$2,350/yr |
| Subscription | Annual | Canadian Law Firms: $1,025-$1,425/yr |
| Subscription | Annual | Additional Offices: $775/yr |
| Subscription | Annual | Government, Public Interest, Bar Associations: $350/yr |
| Subscription | Annual | Corporate/Other Legal Organizations: $750/yr |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Associate Member: $325/yr |
| Subscription | Annual | Consultants: $475/yr; Legal Search Consultants: $850/yr; Alumni: $99/yr |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels11 records
National Association for Law Placement product offering
Product offeringCore offering
NALP operates as a membership-based professional association serving law schools, law firms, government agencies, bar associations, and corporate legal organizations. It provides searchable employer directories (NDLE, CDLE, PSJD), a legal career job board (NALP Job Center), a member community platform (NALPconnect), proprietary employment and salary research publications, and annual conferences focused on legal recruiting, professional development, and diversity initiatives.
Product overview
The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) offers a portfolio of interconnected products and services centered on legal career services, professional development, and research. The core offerings include three directories (NDLE for U.S. legal employers, CDLE for Canadian employers, and PSJD for public service positions), a Job Center platform for recruitment, and NALPconnect for member collaboration. NALP also publishes extensive research including the annual Report on Diversity and Associate Salary Survey, available through the NALP Bookstore. The organization supports members through multiple publications (NALP Bulletin+, NALP*now!*, +PD Newsletter, +DEI Newsletter, and Weekly News Digest), annual conferences and events (Annual Education Conference, Professional Development Institute, Legal Recruiting Summit, DEI Summits, and Newer Professionals Forum), and maintains an affiliated foundation for research and education.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- NALP Directory of Legal Employers (NDLE) Comprehensive searchable directory of U.S. legal employers with employment data, hiring practices, and salary information; archives from 1979-present, primarily for law schools and legal career professionals.
- Public Service Jobs Directory (PSJD)
Quantifiable outcome
- 42,817 first-year law school enrollment (13-year high, 8% increase)
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use National Association for Law Placement
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
National Association for Law Placement technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
National Association for Law Placement partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, secondary and minor.
- Law School Admission Council (LSAC)coreJoint research on law student recruiting including the 2025 report on student awareness and impact of accelerated big law recruitment. NALP collaborates with LSAC on data research initiatives.
- Association of American Law Schools (AALS)coreCollaborative relationship for advancing legal education and career services. Liaison relationship for mutual advocacy and professional development.
- AccessLex InstitutesecondaryPartnership focused on legal education research and data analysis. AccessLex serves as a resource for law school data and scholarship.
- Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals (ALFDP)secondaryCollaboration on diversity initiatives in the legal profession. Joint programming and knowledge sharing on diversity best practices.
- American Association of Law Libraries (AALL)secondaryLiaison relationship for collaboration on legal resources and professional development.
- Canadian Legal Career Development Network (CLCDN)coreFormal liaison relationship for Canadian legal career development professionals. Collaboration on Canadian legal market research including the Canadian Associate Salary Survey.
- National LGBTQ+ Bar AssociationsecondaryCollaboration on LGBTQ+ inclusion in the legal profession. Liaison relationship for advocacy and resource sharing.
- Prelaw Advisors National Council (PLANC)secondaryPartnership for prelaw advising and diversity pipeline initiatives. Collaboration on resources for prospective law students.
- ABA Commission on Women in the ProfessionsecondaryLiaison relationship focused on women's advancement in the legal profession.
- ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance ProgramssecondaryCollaboration on lawyer wellness and assistance programs. Liaison relationship for professional support resources.
- Equal Justice Works (EJW)secondaryPartnership for public interest career development. Collaboration on public service opportunities and fellowships.
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)secondaryLiaison relationship for collaboration on career services best practices across higher education.
- ABA Young Lawyers DivisionsecondaryLiaison relationship for young lawyer career development and professional transition.
- Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)minorLiaison relationship for HR best practices in legal career services.
- Association of Legal Administrators (ALA)minorLiaison relationship for legal administration and management professional development.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
National Association for Law Placement competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE): NACE is the closest functional analog to NALP in the broader higher-education/career-services space, providing salary benchmarking, employment-outcome data, and professional development to college career-services and employer-recruiting professionals — the same mix of data, events, and standards that NALP delivers within legal education.
- Association of American Law Schools (AALS): AALS is the membership association for law schools and shares NALP's law-school constituency; both organizations collaborate on legal education issues and overlapping faculty/dean audiences, serving as NALP's most direct allied-and-overlapping peer.
- Law School Admission Council (LSAC): LSAC administers law school admissions and operates the central prelaw data and JD application platform; NALP and LSAC are documented research partners covering the law-school-to-practice pipeline, making LSAC the closest data and pipeline peer.
- Prelaw Advisors National Council (PLANC): PLANC serves prelaw advisors and prospective law students — an adjacent but overlapping constituency for NALP — and is a documented liaison partner; it represents the pipeline-upstream peer for prospective-student guidance that funnels into NALP's downstream career-services work.
- Association of Legal Administrators (ALA): ALA serves legal-administration professionals in law firms and corporate legal departments and is a documented NALP partner; it overlaps with NALP's law-firm membership segment and shares professional-development and conference programming audiences.
- Canadian Legal Career Development Network (CLCDN): CLCDN is NALP's Canadian counterpart with a formal liaison relationship, providing Canadian Associate Salary Survey and market research; it is the most direct national/regional peer and a partner in Canadian market data collection.
Broad incumbents
- American Bar Association (ABA): The ABA is the largest broad-incumbent legal profession membership organization covering practicing lawyers, with overlapping sections and programs on legal education and recruitment; it competes for legal-industry mindshare while NALP focuses narrowly on the career-services and recruiting segment.
- Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): SHRM is the broad-incumbent HR professional association and a documented NALP partner; it overlaps with NALP's legal-recruiting professional development for HR-adjacent legal-talent functions and competes for talent-management certifications.
Emerging players
- Equal Justice Works: Equal Justice Works is the leading public-interest fellowship organization and an NALP partner; it overlaps with NALP's PSJD product in public-service job placement and competes for public-sector law-student recruitment attention.
- Vault: Vault publishes law-firm rankings, salary data, and employer reviews and competes with NALP's salary surveys and firm-directory content for law-student and lateral-candidate mindshare, representing a private commercial-disclosure peer in legal-career information.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
National Association for Law Placement social profiles
Digital presenceNational Association for Law Placement financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
National Association for Law Placement leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
National Association for Law Placement subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
National Association for Law Placement funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
National Association for Law Placement M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about National Association for Law Placement
What does National Association for Law Placement do?
NALP operates as a membership-based professional association serving law schools, law firms, government agencies, bar associations, and corporate legal organizations. It provides searchable employer directories (NDLE, CDLE, PSJD), a legal career job board (NALP Job Center), a member community platform (NALPconnect), proprietary employment and salary research publications, and annual conferences focused on legal recruiting, professional development, and diversity initiatives.
Is National Association for Law Placement a public or private company?
National Association for Law Placement is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was National Association for Law Placement founded?
National Association for Law Placement was founded in 1971. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is National Association for Law Placement based?
National Association for Law Placement is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does National Association for Law Placement make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Membership Dues are the primary driver. The others are conference and Event Registration and publications and Research Reports.
Who are National Association for Law Placement's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Association of American Law Schools (AALS), Law School Admission Council (LSAC), Prelaw Advisors National Council (PLANC), Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) and Canadian Legal Career Development Network (CLCDN). Broad incumbents are American Bar Association (ABA) and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Emerging players are Equal Justice Works and Vault.
Does National Association for Law Placement have an API?
No public API is recorded for National Association for Law Placement.
What industry is National Association for Law Placement in?
National Association for Law Placement's product category is Legal Career Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDADACAF, Continuing Education (CE/CPD) & Provider Accreditation Bodies, with a secondary code of EDAAALAB, Legal & Compliance (CLE, Paralegal CE). Its NAICS code is 813910 and its SIC code is 8600.