Survey: Good news ahead on legal hiring

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Hiring in the legal field is expected to be strong in the third quarter of 2012, according to the Robert Half Legal Hiring Index.

According to the index, 32 percent of lawyers plan to add legal jobs in the next three months, while only 2 percent anticipate reductions in staff. That yields a net 30-percent hiring increase – up eight points from the second quarter.

The index also reported 84 percent of lawyers are at least somewhat confident in their organizations’ prospects for growth in Q3, up 16 points from Q2.

Respondents will most likely hire:

• Lawyers (91 percent);
• paralegals (35 percent); and
• legal secretaries (14 percent).

Practice areas expected to see the most growth in the next three months include:

• General business/corporate law (17 percent);
• labor and employment (17 percent); and
• litigation (14 percent).

The survey 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.