Good New for In-House Job Seekers: Law Departments Plan on Hiring

22Oct/10Off

Good New for In-House Job Seekers: Law Departments Plan on Hiring

As companies continue to slowly emerge from the recession, many are looking for ways to save money on their expensive legal bills. Corporate legal department, according to a recent Altman Weil's Chief Legal Officer Survey, are increasingly telling firms to just forget it, and taking more work in-house.

Altman Weil's Chief Legal Officer Survey, released Wednesday, showed that sixty-three percent of the officers surveyed reported that they had increased their internal budgets from 2009 to 2010, and 29% claimed that they would decrease their use of outside firms in the coming year.

That’s great news for attorneys and paralegals looking to go in-house. The survey showed that 41% of chief legal officers indicated that they plan to hire new in-house lawyers in the next 12 months, and 32% said they would increase the number of paralegals on staff over the same period.

The survey, conducted in September and October, is based on responses from 174 officers from law departments. 28% of respondents run law departments in corporations with over $10 billion in revenues.

Of course, the great majority of companies taking on more work in-house will do so with its existing legal staff, placing increasing pressure on an already overworked staff. However, this mark s a shift from companies simply trying to negotiate law firm fees, to looking at alternatives, including bolstering their own internal capabilities. That’s great news for attorneys who are already in-house, in terms of increased job security, and for those looking to break into the in-house world in terms of opportunity.

Filed under: In-House Careers, In-House Jobs, In-House Legal Market, In-House Management, In-House Survey Comments Off

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kerwin
December 6th, 2010 - 02:45

Many economists and others think that unemployment will remain painfully high for years. I don’t think many people believe that, but if it does, it will be different this time. After the banking industry imploded in America, many financial people simply took off and left for Europe or any other place with a financial sector. That is one type of professional that is not too particular as to location. It is possible that others may start thinking that way as well. That will happen in other highly paid, white collar jobs. Talent drain will be the first piece of evidence that unemployment has been painfully high for too many years. The expatriate population will expand. It is already quite high as we speak, but it will also become more vocal. We’re going to hear more from these people besides talk about double-taxation, their favorite reason for staying out of the US. If unemployment remains that high, eventually every job will be in jeopardy. There will be too many people available for the same job.

There are quite a few nations where unemployment is chronic,. and where plenty of people will never be able to work at a career unless they migrate. Due to the world being in the habit of falling into political instability from time to time. If the US remains a world power, it may be difficult to migrate out of the States to other than the usual places, Europe and Latin America. Will they have jobs for Americans? Unlikely. Will they have business opportunities? That remains to be seen. The buildup of an expatriate community to a large size often makes it harder for that group to thrive where it is found.