The watchword for legal department hiring in the coming year will be maintenance. New data from Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing and consulting solutions firm, shows that many departments don’t plan to add new legal positions in the first half of 2016—but they don’t plan to sack anyone either.
When asked what their plans are between January and June, 54 percent of in-house lawyers said their departments want to keep staffing levels the same. Included in this number are departments that are looking to fill recently vacated positions. Only 18 percent of respondents said their departments plan to add and fill more positions in 2016, while another 18 percent are freezing their hiring and don’t plan to fill vacated positions or create new ones. Only 1 percent of in-house lawyers surveyed reported that their legal departments want to actively eliminate legal jobs in the new year.
