The number of publicly announced staffing firm mergers & acquisitions in the U.S. rose to 20 in the second quarter of 2012 from 14 that closed in the first quarter, according to a new report “Staffing mergers and acquisitions for 1H12 and M&A multiples” released this week by Staffing Industry Analysts.

Overall, there were 62 percent more acquisitions in the first half of 2012 than the first half of 2011.

“In the second quarter of this year, the number of publicly-announced acquisitions as well as the number of acquisitions reported in our own Pulse survey showed a moderate uptick from recent quarters,” said Research Analyst Timothy Landhuis.

“We also note that 12 percent of the deals that closed in the first half of this year involved legal temporary staffing firms, even though legal staffing firms make up only about 1 percent of all staffing firms,” Landhuis said. “This indicates an unusually high level of interest in the legal segment.”

Staffing Industry Analysts research also found  that as of June 30, 2012, public staffing firms displayed a median market capitalization to revenue ratio of 0.33, up from the ratio of 0.26 at the end of 2011.

Corporate members of Staffing Industry Analysts can access the full report by clicking here.