Hybrid, or blended, paralegal and legal secretary positions, have become more prevalent in the last two years, according to 66% of lawyers surveyed by Robert Half Legal. And 15% of lawyers said their organization plans to increase hiring for these roles in the next 12 months.

The research also found that 50% of the legal support jobs at law firms or companies are hybrid positions.

“Hybrid positions that combine administrative tasks with paralegal duties are becoming more widespread as firms restructure their support teams to improve efficiencies,” said Jamy Sullivan, executive director of Robert Half Legal. “To deliver quality results to clients at lower billing rates, the responsibilities of legal professionals in these blended roles are also expanding to include a variety of litigation support tasks traditionally handled by first-year associates.”

Lawyers were asked, “In your opinion, have blended or hybrid paralegal/legal secretary positions become more or less common than they were two years ago?” Responses:

• Much more common: 24%
• Somewhat more common: 42%
• No change: 17%
• Somewhat less common: 4%
• Much less common: 1%
• Don't know: 11%

Lawyers were also asked, “Does your law firm or company plan to increase or decrease its hiring of legal support professionals for blended or hybrid paralegal/legal secretary positions in the next 12 months?” Responses:

• Increase significantly: 1%
• Increase somewhat: 14%
• Keep the same/no change: 61%
• Decrease somewhat: 9%
• Decrease significantly: 1%
• Don't know: 15%

The survey was developed by Robert Half Legal and conducted by an independent research firm. It is based on 200 telephone interviews with lawyers from the largest law firms and companies in the US.