Approximately one in three (31 percent) lawyers plan to add legal staff in the first quarter of 2012, according to the Robert Half Legal Hiring Index. Four percent plan on reducing personnel. The net 27 percent increase in projected hiring activity is up three points from the previous quarter’s forecast.

The survey was developed by Robert Half Legal and conducted by an independent research firm. It is based on telephone interviews with 100 lawyers at law firms with 20 or more employers and 100 corporate lawyers at companies with 1,000 more employees, all of which have hiring authority within their organizations.

Robert Half Legal is a division of Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI).