Following a promising summer, legal employment in the U.S. declined by 1,100 jobs in December, despite initial projections of a loss of 1,800 jobs. The loss of 1,100 rivals September’s loss of 1,200, and continues a downward trend since July’s momentous gain of 4,100. Overall, there has been a net gain of 1,000 jobs since that time, yet this was a sour note to close the year as 3,100 jobs have been lost over the past 5 months. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on jobs moving forward in 2012.