Hiring is predicted to increase for the legal field in the second half of 2016, according to a study released today from Robert Half Legal. Nearly one-third of lawyers interviewed, 31%, anticipate their law firms or companies will add legal jobs in the second half of the year, up from 24% six months ago and 29% one year ago.

Fifty-one percent of lawyers said they expect to only fill vacant posts, while 12% said they would neither fill vacant positions nor create new ones. No respondents anticipate staff reductions in the next six months.

“Law firms are hiring to expand lucrative practice groups or establish new services while legal departments are recruiting professionals to support an increase in case work related to commercial litigation and transactions,” Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal, said. “Midlevel lawyers and paralegals who possess deep knowledge of a particular industry or sector are highly marketable.”

Litigation is expected to yield the most job opportunities from July through December, cited by 41% of attorneys surveyed. Within the litigation practice area, commercial litigation and insurance defense were identified as the leading drivers of job growth, with each category receiving 43% of the survey response.

Other key findings:

• 67% of lawyers said finding skilled legal professionals is somewhat or very challenging, while 33% of survey respondents expressed concern about losing legal personnel to other job opportunities in the next six months.
• 34% of lawyers said that, aside from compensation or bonus, challenging work or variety of assignments provides the greatest incentive for legal professionals to remain with an employer. Flexible work arrangements ranked second, receiving 26% of the survey response, followed by professional development opportunities at 20%.

The survey is based on 200 telephone interviews with lawyers in the US who have hiring authority within their organizations. It included 100 respondents employed at law firms with 20 or more employees and 100 respondents employed at companies with 1,000 or more employees.