Litigation Fuels Demand as Firms Deal with Hiring Challenges

Litigation Fuels Demand as Firms Deal with Hiring ChallengesLitigation Fuels Demand as Firms Deal with Hiring ChallengesWith litigation leading job opportunities in the legal field, a profound majority of lawyers across the United States (84 percent) are optimistic about their firms growth and are looking to hire.But as Americas lawyers ramp up recruiting efforts in the second half of 2017, they are faced with shoring up their legal teams in the face of increasing competition, according to a new survey by Robert Half Legal.The research also showed that anticipated hiring for the remainder of the year will outpace mora recent trends, with one third of lawyers (33 percent) interviewed saying they are planning to hire new legal staff in the second half of 2017, compared with 25 percent six months ago and 31 percent one year ago. Fifty-one percent of lawyers said they plan to only fill vacant posts in the next six months.Other key takeawaysNearly seven in 10 lawyers (67 percent) surveyed said they face challenges finding skilled legal professionalsForty-three percent are concerned about losing personnel to competitors in the next six monthsThis illustrates the importance of staying on top of legal hiring trends and in-demand practice areas - and shows how vital it is to have a recruitment strategy that appeals to high performers.Hot practice areasLitigation continues to grow among other business opportunities it was cited by 35 percent of surveyed lawyers as the top practice area expected to drive hiring at law firms and corporate legal departments during the next six months. Five other areas were noted as wellLitigation (35 percent)General business/commercial law (17 percent)Real estate (12 percent)Labor and employment (7 percent)Healthcare (3 percent)Regulatory or compliance (2 percent)Hot areas of litigationWith commercial and employment litigation areas at the top of the list, hiring managers are looking for associates and paralegals with background in these a reasInsurance defense (35 percent)Commercial litigation (23 percent)Personal injury (17 percent)Employment (14 percent)Personal/family law (4 percent)Medical malpractice (3 percent)Companies are hiring experienced managers to take on more work in-house and reduce their spending on outside law firms. Of course, that means firms will likely be targeting some of the same top candidates in their searches to fill the roles.Ready to hire a legal professional?We can help.Wanted specialized experienceEven under the best circumstances, finding the right person for the job can be like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Demand for candidates with the hottest skills and backgrounds exceeds the current supply, which elevates the challenge.The most marketable associates and paralegals have five-plus years experience in a high-demand industry or sector, the survey found. Ideal candidates possess technical proficiency and business knowledge and can ramp up quickly. Because law fir ms and legal departments are recruiting highly skilled specialists from the same talent pool, lateral hiring is expected to increase in the coming months.Turn perks into power-upsThirty-six percent of lawyers surveyed said that, aside from compensation or bonuses, challenging work or variety of assignments provides the greatest incentive for legal professionals to remain with an employer. Flexible work arrangements ranked second, receiving 29 percent of the survey response, followed by professional development opportunities, at 15 percent.Beyond enhancing salaries, many organizations are emphasizing workplace incentives - including flextime, condensed workweeks, challenging work assignments and professional development opportunities - to keep their best people and attract top talent.To handle increases in workloads, aside from making new full-time hires, organizations are also using flexible staffing approaches, such as hiring legal support professionals to perform hybrid roles an d employing temporary or project professionals. In addition, there is more temporary-to-hire activity, and that is absorbing some of those workers who were previously available for hire.When it comes to legal hiring, time is of the essence. No matter how good your benefits and perks are, sitting on the fence about which candidate to hire can end up in losing all your top choices to other, faster-moving firms. When evaluating job candidates, you must move quickly and offer incentives top candidates want to avoid losing top talent to other organizations.For more information on legal hiring trends, and tools for addressing recruiting challenges, check out our employer resources page.

Googles new AI assistant can pass for a human on phone calls

Googles new AI assistant can pass for a philanthropisch on phone callsGoogles new AI assistant can pass for a human on phone callsIn the near future, a machine can book reservations on your behalf, and the human on the other line may never realize that they are talking to a chatbot.This is the new frontier of machine learning that Google unveiled at its I/O conference on Tuesday. In the demo, CEO Sundar Pichai played back phone call recordings of actual conversations between Google Assistants and seemingly unsuspecting employees at a hair salon and at a restaurant.Called Google Duplex, Google Assistants new artificially intelligent system does not sound robotic. There are no beep beeps or metallic echoes. It sounds just like us. In the demo, Duplex interjects its requests to book a restaurant reservation and a haircut appointment successfully with lifelike mhhmmm and uh-huh.The amazing thing is that Assistant can actually understand the nuances of conversation, Pichai said in the dem o.Google Duplex sounds just like a human assistant - is that a good thing?In a blog post explaining the technology, Google said making Assistant sound human is the goal.The Google Duplex technology is built to sound natural, to make the conversation experience comfortable, the post states. Its important to us that users and businesses have a good experience with this service, and transparency is a key part of that. We want to be clear about the intent of the call so businesses understand the context.But even though Google said the experience is meant to make the experience comfortable, the ethical question being raised is For whom is the comfort intended?Does it feel comfortable for customer service representatives to not know if they are communicating with a machine? Or, is that too intimate and invasive? Can it be easier for us to abuse a customer service representatives time when a machine is the one who can make the nitpicky request, and can call back repeatedly beyond the thre shold of human social propriety? (Google has not been clear as to whether or not the AI assistant will identify itself as a robot.)It is easy to see the convenience value being added for businesses and clients who want to offload the tedious work of scheduling to a machine. It is less easy to see the value being added for the salon receptionists and cashiers on the other line.In its blog post, Google touts Duplex as a public good, because it can address accessibility and language barriers. Instead of worrying how to pronounce a foreign entree for takeout, you can ask Duplex to handle the call for you, the thinking goes.Instead of making a phone call, the user simply interacts with the Google Assistant, and the call happens completely in the background without any user involvement, Google says.Time will tell which kind of science fiction story we are in. Google said it plans to start testing Duplex more in the wild soon.This summer, well start testing the Duplex technology within the Google Assistant, to help users make restaurant reservations, schedule hair salon appointments, and get holiday hours over the phone, the company promised.

Facebook, Jon Favreau and Your Career

Facebook, Jon Favreau and Your Career Facebook, Jon Favreau and Your Career Jon Favreau is 27 and he just landed a plum job as Barack Obamas speechwriter. Actually hes been writing for Obama for years now, but head speechwriter at the White House? Thats some gig for a 27 year-old.But Jon has also become the latest example of how social media is changing all our lives especially for those young enough to view the web just like we 40+ folks used to view our diaries.It all went wrong with this photo, presumably taken during the primaries, which Jon posted on his Facebook page. He took it down minutes after the news media discovered it, but too late As CNN saidThe picture was reportedly up for a scant two hours or so before Favreau removed it, along with every other picture of himself beyond his profile photo - but theres no getting the Facebook genie back in the bottle.Fortunately, Hillary Clinton seems to have taken the incident with good humor and Obama is not going to fire his new speechwriter over this, but will you be so lucky if you do the same thing? Remember, everything you do and everything you say online is visible to everyone quite possibly forever. Write that on a post-it and stick it on your monitor