LawCrossing Reports Steady Growth in Attorney Jobs in All Regions

LawCrossing, the website with the largest collection of legal jobs in the world, has released a month-end statistical report on the changes in the number of legal jobs by practice areas and job types.

This past month's data show previous patterns for growth in attorney jobs have improved drastically with a strong increase in almost every area of legal staff positions. The report reflects changes in the demand for attorneys and legal staff in various practice areas and regions throughout the U.S. for the period between May 16, 2006 and June 15, 2006.


For attorney jobs in law firms and corporations, growth was strong in all geographical areas. The Southwest region showed dramatic growth in the number of law firm and in-house jobs, with 11- and 15-percent increases, respectively. The Mid-Atlantic states showed a nine-percent increase in both the number of law firm jobs and the number of in-house jobs.

The Northeast, the South, and the Midwest regions also each displayed expansion in the number of in-house and law firm jobs for attorneys.

Overall, these trends present a positive mid-year outlook for job-seeking J.D.s.

"If you're a lawyer, June is a great time to look for a job, no matter what part of the country you're looking in," said LawCrossing CEO Harrison Barnes.

"Law students have graduated; and law firms are expanding practice areas, opening international offices, announcing partners, increasing salaries. Some firms are expanding so rapidly that they're actually doubling their numbers of attorneys within the year. It's a good time to be a lawyer!"

Regarding the changes in the in-house market, Barnes remarked, "I've noticed quite a few shake-ups at major corporations in the legal departments lately. Generally speaking, this is a sector that doesn't see a lot of movement. You have to wait for the general counsel to retire or move on if you ever want to get a promotion. But right now, we're constantly getting news of changes — new legal department heads and deputy GCs. This is a good barometer of what's happening this month in-house."

The only two areas that did not see growth this month were government jobs for attorneys in all regions and miscellaneous legal staff positions other than paralegals, legal secretaries, financial professionals, I.T. staff, librarians and researchers, marketing staff, H.R. professionals, technical specialists, receptionists, and general and legal administrators.

All of the aforementioned legal staff positions showed drastic growth. The number of receptionist positions increased from two to 11, an incredible 450-percent increase. The numbers of marketing and H.R. jobs posted both doubled. The number of accounting and finance jobs saw a 66-percent increase from last month's listings. Other areas displaying strong growth included law librarians and information technology staff, with increases of 45 and 38 percent, respectively.

"When a firm or legal department grows its attorney staff, they need to add a lot of support staff, as well," noted Barnes.

"The growth in attorney jobs is mirrored by the growth in legal staff jobs. Law firms are businesses, too; and you can't effectively run a business without marketers, administrative personnel, I.T. people, et cetera."

LawCrossing's team of 200 researchers and editors monitors the hiring needs of more than 1.2 million legal employers. With more than 100,000 legal jobs in the U.S currently in the database, the website counts tens of thousands of law students, attorneys, and legal staff professionals as members.