Want to get into the hot practice areas? Get specialized

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While a stagnant economy means a tough job market for many lawyers, legal staffing experts predict that attorneys with specialized skills will continue to find themselves in high demand in 2013.

It’s a “specialist economy” for the legal profession, said Charles Volkert, executive director at staffing agency Robert Half Legal.

“Even though there are significant numbers of attorneys out of work and job growth has been a little lackluster, many firms and corporate legal departments are hiring aggressively in the demand practice areas such as health care and intellectual property,” said Volkert, who is based in Miami.

Robert Denney of Robert Denney Associates agreed that specialization will be the key to employment prospects for lawyers in 2013. However, the Wayne, Pa., management and marketing consultant cautioned that his firm has seen a “flattening out” of hiring by the big firms in recent months. He predicted that most of the hiring activity in 2013 will be by small boutique and mid-sized firms.

“We see moderately strong employment in mid-sized firms and specialty boutiques like intellectual property and employment firms,” Denney said.

Here’s a look at the practice areas that are expected to be in the greatest demand in the coming year:

Health care

A recent Robert Half survey of legal employers indicate that health care is expected to see the highest degree of growth in the fourth quarter and moving into next year, according to Volkert.

Denney agreed that lawyers with expertise in health care will be in good shape in 2013.

“With the implementation of Obamacare and related countersuits, health is still hot,” Denney said.

Intellectual property

“There have been more infringement filings in the last two years than ever before and we see this continuing,” said Denney. “I’d call that a red-hot area.”

A patent lawyer who can speak multiple languages just might be able to write his or her own check.

“Because many companies deal with intellectual property matters outside of the U.S., it has increased the demand for foreign language reviewers,” Volkert said.

Labor and employment

Denney called labor and employment a “red-hot” practice area for 2013, explaining that lawyers can thank an “aggressive” National Labor Relations Board for the extra work.

Denney said that one niche area certain to generate jobs is social media policies.

“The NLRB is really going after employers – and law firms, too – over social media policies,” said Denney.

Banking

Lawyers will continue to have plenty of work to do thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Denney said.

“Only a portion of the laws that have come out of Dodd-Frank have been implemented, so there’s still a long way to go,” said Denney.

Litigation

Experienced litigators – meaning those with three or more years of experience – will be in high demand across all areas of practice, according to Volkert.

“We haven’t seen any slowdown in hiring across the areas of litigation, whether that’s insurance defense or labor and employment,” said Volkert. “Firms are looking for job candidates who can walk into a case, roll up their sleeves, and really work that case without a lot of direction.”