Legal Marketing & PR

More than a Quarter of Law Firms are Hiring Again

By Larry Bodine

More than a quarter of the lawyers questioned in a recent survey expect to hire full-time staff members within the next three months.

The lawyers were asked in a survey developed by Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing company, if the law firm or company plans to increase or decrease the number of full-time legal personnel on their staff for 2010's second quarter, which runs through June 30.

Those employees are lawyers, paralegals and support staff, said Billie Watkins, branch manager for Robert Half Legal's Chicago office.

Curtis A. Linder, president and co-owner of Linder Legal Staffing Inc. in Chicago, said that within about the past year while some corporations with legal departments have had hiring freezes, they were robust users of contract lawyers and paralegals.

"Now what we're seeing is that with the hiring freezes being lifted at some of the area's corporations, those contractors have been hired directly by our clients," Linder said. He added that law firms that had deferred start dates to October for new associates are reversing themselves and starting the associates immediately.

A total of:

• 26 percent of the respondents replied that there would be increased hiring
• 67 percent indicated there would be no change
• 7 percent replied that they did not know, according to Robert Half.

Of course, there's always an exception. Mayer Brown LLP has reportedly decided to cut close to 30 attorneys. After 'careful consideration' the firm decided to let go 28 associates and 47 staff members, according to an e-mail leaked from a Mayer Brown attorney to legal blog Above the Law.'Despite this necessary action, we see encouraging signs for 2010,' the e-mail reportedly said.

None of the Robert Half respondents indicated there would be a decrease in the number of full-time legal personnel on their staff during the next three months.

"Law firms that cut deeply during the downturn are planning to add staff to meet existing client demands and prepare for new business," Charles Volkert, Robert Half Legal's executive director.

The survey was based on telephone interviews with 100 lawyers at law firms with 20 or more employees, and 100 lawyers at companies with 1,000 or more employees. A total of 41 percent of the survey respondents indicated that it's difficult to locate skilled legal professionals in the U.S.

Full post as published by Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog on April 10, 2010 (boomark / email).