John Hwang is set to get his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in May. Now if he could just find a job.

He's making cold calls. He's introducing himself to lawyers who come to the school for lectures. He's even dropped in unannounced at law firms, something he discovered is frowned upon in the white-shoe world.

As difficult as it is, Hwang is glad he's not graduating during the Great Recession, a time when summer programs were cut, law firms revoked job offers and many graduates couldn't find work. But getting a job is still a struggle, as law firms pump out more graduates than the market can absorb.

"You have to be very mentally strong," said Hwang, who has been building his legal résumé by clerking for a judge and working for a litigation firm. He compares the job hunt to the quest for matrimonial prospects: "You just need one."

Top graduates of top schools still command salaries in the $160,000 range. But for those trained outside the Ivy League and top-tier public universities, the job hunt reflects seismic changes in the industry.

Some law firms aren't as dependent on summer recruiting, preferring to focus on hiring experienced lawyers from their competitors. Others are reluctant to invest in training new lawyers who are likely to jump firms when better offers come along.

"The economics just don't work out with the summer clerkship programs," said Douglas Atnipp, co-managing shareholder of the Houston office of Greenberg Traurig. Nor is the firm matching the $150,000 to $160,000 annual salaries some of its competitors are paying.

In place of the traditional summer programs, Greenberg Traurig is looking for third-year law students to join its "resident attorney program." The pay is $85,000. Some of the lawyers are offered positions as associates after the one-year stint.

The firm is attracting good candidates through the program, said Atnipp, who is also co-chair of the firm's national energy and natural resources practice. Since launching the program in Houston, it has been adopted firmwide, he said.

Nationwide, 59.9 percent of law school graduates in 2014 were employed in long-term, full-time jobs that require passing a bar exam, according to the American Bar Association. The group, which accredits law schools, takes the measure roughly 10 months after graduation.

On the surface, that's a little better than the previous year, in which 57 percent found similar jobs. However, it also reflects the drop in the number of law school graduates from 2013 to 2014.

Summer associates

Starting in about 2008, big law firms cut back significantly on their summer associate programs, said Susan Pye, president of the Pye Legal Group recruiting firm. To fill the hiring gaps left by smaller incoming classes, many firms are relying on "lateral" hiring of established partners and associates from other firms, she said. Part of the appeal is that lawyers often bring their clients with them.

The pace of lateral hiring locally has picked up as a spate of out-of-state firms have opened offices in Houston. Earlier this year, San Francisco-based Orrick hired 22 lawyers from seven local firms. Other well-known firms have set up offices in Houston, including Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis and Washington, D.C.-based Arnold & Porter.

Most of the new firms, however, don't have the infrastructure in place to train young associates, Pye said.

Oil prices' effects

The fall in oil prices is also affecting the ability of new lawyers to find a toehold.

Companies don't typically hire new graduates to work in-house because they want experienced lawyers, said Pye, who specializes in placing general counsel and in-house lawyers. But with the drop in oil prices, demand for in-house lawyers is down. Lawyers with two to four years of experience who would normally make the move in-house are not finding the same opportunities.

More new associates

At Vinson & Elkins, 62 new associates will join the firm this year, compared with 45 in 2015.

Why the increase? Douglas Bland, an energy transaction lawyer in Houston who is also the firm's hiring partner, said the number varies from year to year, and it's hard to know exactly why. Over the past five years, 82 percent of its summer associates accepted job offers. This year it was 87 percent.

Each year, the firm aims to hire between the upper 40s to the lower 60s, he said. But since the hiring process begins two years out, it's hard to be precise.

"We don't vary it for short-term economic factors," said Bland, who views the drop in energy prices as a hiccup and not a reason to change direction. "We're looking long-term."

Baker Botts this fall is bringing in 63 new lawyers, including 22 in Houston, said Van Beckwith, partner in charge of recruiting. That's about the same as last year. Nearly all of the new lawyer hiring comes from its summer associates program, he said.

Tough to tell

It's difficult to get a precise handle on how the law school class of 2016 is faring.

Law schools accredited by the American Bar Association are required to report the number of graduates who found jobs that require law degrees. Data for 2015 aren't due until April.

"The best we can say is that interviewing and expressions of interest is pretty robust," said associate dean for academic administration Bruce McGovern at the South Texas College of Law. McGovern also teaches corporate law and taxation.

Nazleen Jiwani, director of the career resources center at South Texas, said the key to finding a job is networking and lining up internships and jobs.

"You need to start the day you start law school," she said.

How she got her job

Tamara Sharkey, a third-year law student at the UH Law Center, didn't start job hunting immediately. But after getting her first semester grades, she turned her attention to life after law school. And her efforts paid off. Sharkey landed a job with VB Law in Houston after introducing herself to the owner who had come on campus to give a lunchtime presentation on real estate law.

Sharkey was a regular at the seminars that brought in lawyers to talk about specialties such as family law, immigration and bankruptcy. Sharkey knew she wanted a job in real estate law and after meeting and exchanging business cards, the owner told her the firm had an opening for a law clerk.

She began working for the six-lawyer firm midway through her second year. After graduation, she stays on full-time.

"I love it," she said.