Robert Half: Legal hiring looking brighter in Q2

The employment outlook for legal professionals is looking brighter for the second quarter, according to a report Wednesday by the Robert Half Legal Hiring Index.

More than one-quarter of lawyers interviewed recently said they plan to increase staff levels in the second quarter of 2010, while none anticipated declines.

The survey was conducted by an independent research firm and 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.

To the question, “Does your law firm/company plan to increase or decrease the number of full-time legal personnel on your staff during the second quarter of 2010?” 26 percent said they planned to increase, 0 percent to decrease, 67 percent expected no change and 7 percent didn’t know.

Forty-one percent of respondents said that it is challenging to find skilled legal professionals in the United States, despite high unemployment rates.

The survey by Menlo Park-based Robert Half also found an overall sense of optimism: 80 percent of lawyers interviewed were at least somewhat confident in their organizations’ prospects for growth in the second quarter.

From the Silicon Valley Business Journal.