Does your legal practice need to find employees? As the increasing demand for litigation services continues, so too does the need for legal firms to discover suitable talent. A survey conducted in the latter portion of 2017 revealed that the vast majority of legal firms are anticipating the need to expand staffing by hiring competent legal professionals. However, that may be easier said than done, since the available qualified talent will be at a premium.
The survey made it clear that those in charge of staffing for legal firms expect to face severe challenges in classifying talented personnel and luring them into the fold. Nearly half of the survey participants said they predict competition from other legal firms to be one of the primary obstacles to hiring desired candidates.
That being the case, it’s more important than ever that legal firms develop a formal strategy for finding qualified candidates and appealing to them strongly enough for them to accept employment. In order to develop that kind of overall hiring strategy, some of the most important things to be aware of are the specific hiring trends in your practice area, as well as what benefits qualified candidates consider desirable.
Experience is Important
One of the survey elements most often considered highly desirable in qualified candidates was a high level of experience, with the most appealing prospects having at least five years of experience as an associate or a paralegal. Professionals with this level of experience would have a very short learning curve as a rule on any new job because their business knowledge and proficiency would allow them to adapt to a new environment quickly.
Because experienced personnel is going to be highly sought by virtually all legal firms in need of staffing, it stands to reason that they will be the most difficult to hire, simply because they have multiple options available to them. This makes it likely that the shrinking talent pool will force many legal firms into a lateral-hiring mode so that they can find employees to fill critical vacancies.
Trends in Litigation Areas
Experience alone may not be the most decisive factor in obtaining qualified talent for your law firm, especially if the kind of experience you’re seeking is in a specific sector of the general litigation field. Trending downward is experience with personal and family law, and medical malpractice is in that same category of de-emphasized litigation trends.
Of much greater significance today are employment litigation and personal injury litigation, with hiring managers seeking candidates in these two areas at a rate of between 15% and 20%. Higher yet on the trending scale is commercial litigation, where 23% of desired candidates are needed to fill vacancies.
At the top though, and by far the hottest area of litigation in the legal profession these days, is insurance defense. More than 35% of hiring managers for legal firms declared in the survey that the kind of candidates they sought after were to fill positions that were primarily related to insurance defense. Many of the queried survey participants indicated that seeking candidates in these specific areas would alleviate the need for securing the services of external legal firms to fill gaps caused by litigation requirements.
Reasons to Find Employees
As can be seen from the above, one of the biggest drivers for hiring additional legal talent is the increased need for litigation attorneys. However, that isn’t the only reason that legal firms require additional staffing for the coming year. Many firms indicated a need for general business professionals who had a thorough understanding of commercial law, and who could provide support in those areas.
There is also a strong need for real estate lawyers, as well as labor and employment professionals with a solid background in these areas, with this experience being useful for handling client issues. Of lesser importance to hiring managers were candidates skilled in healthcare issues and regulatory issues, although between 2% and 3% of candidates were still being sought to fill positions in these two areas.
How to Attract Qualified Candidates
Given the fact that competition will be so intense for talented legal professionals in the foreseeable future, there are a few enticements you should consider beyond the obvious monetary inducements.
Many candidates polled in the survey expressed the opinion that after compensation, the most desirable perk which a legal firm could offer would be work arrangements that are very flexible, with nearly 30% of all respondents voicing this opinion. The next most appealing job perk was considered to be the opportunity for professional development at a firm, including work assignments which are challenging, and the potential for personal growth. In some cases, these two considerations ranked even higher than salary levels.
Something you should remember when seeking to find employees is that no matter how good your perks and benefits are, it would be best to for you to plunge right in and start looking for needed candidates as soon as possible. With a talent pool that is steadily shrinking, every wasted day may leave fewer and fewer candidates to choose from.