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Legal hiring to increase in third quarter, survey says

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Legal hiring remains a bright spot in a transitional economic environment, as one-third (33 percent) of lawyers interviewed for The Robert Half Legal Hiring Index said they plan to add legal jobs in the third quarter. Just 2 percent of legal organizations plan staff cutbacks. The net 31 percent hiring increase is up five points from the previous quarter’s survey.

The survey was developed by Robert Half Legal, a premier legal staffing firm specializing in lawyers, paralegals and other highly skilled legal professionals. It was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 100 lawyers at law firms with 20 or more employees, and 100 corporate lawyers at companies with 1,000 or more employees. All of the respondents have hiring authority within their organizations.

Lawyers were asked, “Does your law firm or company plan to increase or decrease the number of full-time legal personnel on your staff during the third quarter of 2010?” Their responses:

Increase — 33%

Decrease — 2%

No change — 58%

Don’t know — 7%

Given current and anticipated activity, 83 percent of lawyers interviewed expressed confidence in their organizations’ prospects for growth, noted Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal.

“In particular, law firms specializing in bankruptcy, foreclosure and litigation are adding staff to meet increased demand for their services,” Volkert said. “Successive waves of bankruptcies and restructurings, along with a surge in labor relations and employment-related litigation, are fueling hiring.”

Even in a competitive legal jobs market, close to half (47 percent) of lawyers interviewed said it is challenging to find skilled legal professionals, up 6 points from the previous survey.

“Specific attributes that may have been listed as ‘preferable’ in a job posting in the past may now be ‘required,’ which narrows the range of viable candidates for a given position,” Volkert said. He added that some organizations are bringing in legal professionals on a project basis to augment the efforts of full-time staff and also to evaluate their potential firsthand before committing to a permanent hire.

National Jurist Editors

National Jurist Editors

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