As the economy continues to teeter between recession and recovery, the legal job market is in much the same state. The numbers for 2010 summer positions at Bay Street’s biggest firms remain stuck at 2009 levels — a year that saw a 12 percent drop in summer jobs over the previous year.

In November, Precedent questioned the 17 firms that traditionally take on the most law students about how many second-years they’ve hired for 2010. The numbers were up just two percent, translating to only five more jobs over last year. In total, 304 students were hired for the upcoming summer, compared to 299 for the summer of 2009, and 340 for the summer of 2008.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP’s numbers dropped from 37 last year to 24 this year. Mary Jackson, chief officer of legal personnel and professional development, attributed this decrease to the reality of the U.S. legal market. “In 2009, 12 of our 37 students spent the summer with a U.S. law firm,” she explains. “This year, we expect that only three students out of 24 will be spending part of the summer with a U.S. firm.”

In contrast, Miller Thomson LLP has seen a return to their pre-recession hiring numbers. The firm hired 12 students for the coming summer, as compared to only eight in 2009.

“Last year, with the economy going the way that it was, we weren’t certain what the future would hold, so we hired less,” says Jessica Watkins, manager of professional development at the firm. “But our summer students were exceedingly busy and we felt it was warranted to bring the numbers back up.”

For students looking for Toronto jobs this year, the on-campus interview process was tense. Jenelle Ambrose, a second-year law student at Dalhousie University, says that she was “extremely wary” at the beginning of the hiring process. However, she says that in her interviews, many firms sounded optimistic and she was encouraged by that optimism. Ambrose was one of 13 students hired at the Toronto office of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP. Last year the office hired 10.

For associates, optimism is still hard to come by. Danya Cohen, a consultant at the legal recruitment firm RainMaker Group, says that when it comes to hiring lawyers, the firms remain “gun-shy.” Cohen adds, “they’ve had to let go of so many over the last year, so I don’t think they’re going to do any hiring in the next little while.”