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Md. Lawyers Confidence Index: Large firms optimistic about hiring

Md. Lawyers Confidence Index: Large firms optimistic about hiring

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This is the fifth installment of The Daily Record’s Maryland Lawyers Confidence Index, a confidential survey of private attorneys in the state that explores their views on the economic factors influencing their practices. If you’d like to participate in our next survey, please sign up. Also, dive deep into our data visualizations of the results of this survey.
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Sponsor of the Maryland Lawyers Confidence Index Survey

Attorneys at larger law firms in Maryland are more optimistic about hiring in the coming months compared to their peers at smaller firms, according to the latest Maryland Lawyers Confidence Index survey.

Among the survey’s 600-plus respondents who work at a firm with 41 or more lawyers, 75 percent agreed their firm plans on hiring additional attorneys in the next three months. By comparison, only 25 percent of respondents at firms with 3 to 15 attorneys agreed with that statement, while 53 percent shared that sentiment at firms with 16 to 40 lawyers.

The sentiment toward hiring at the larger firms is reflective of the larger legal market, said Randi Lewis, managing director at global attorney consultancy firm Major, Lindsey & Africa.

“From what I am seeing now, there’s a lot of activity in the market from larger firms,” Lewis said. “There’s also activity at the partner level, which is common generally but particularly this time of year.”

The first quarter is busy with hiring activity because attorneys, especially those at partner level, have gotten their bonuses and “know what their compensation is going to be for 2018,” Lewis said. Those lawyers are in a position to decide whether to stay at their firm or take an offer at another shop that works better for their practice, Lewis said.

The first quarter 2018 survey had a significant increase in respondents compared to last year’s because the Maryland State Bar Association, the survey’s sponsor, shared its membership list with The Daily Record. As a result, 654 attorneys responded to the survey this time, compared to 136 responses in the first quarter survey in 2017.

Because of the dramatic increase in responses, the confidence index also took a sharp dive to -6 on a scale of -100 to 100, the lowest recorded across all five surveys thus far.

However, firms of all sizes were optimistic about the state of the economy, though 46 percent of respondents who are solo and small firm practitioners shared that sentiment. Around 60 percent of attorneys at firm of 3 to 15 and 16 to 40 practitioners said the state of the economy was good. That figure rose to 66 percent among attorneys at the largest firms.

But smaller firms don’t necessarily gauge their business based on the state of the overall economy, said Andrew Hartman, chairman of the solo and small firm practice section of the MSBA.

“Solos tend to find their work without regard to the overall economy,” said Hartman, a partner at Diamond Iotina Hartman LLC in Baltimore.

For smaller firms that do not have access to an IT department or a large support staff, investing in technology to manage cases is a priority, he added.

“Marketing and technology are always of interest to solo and small firm people,” Hartman said.

Among solo and small firm practitioners who responded to the survey, 35 percent said they plan to invest in technology and another 35 percent felt the same about marketing.

Sixty-three percent of survey respondents were men. Around a quarter of the respondents practice in Montgomery County, 18 percent practice in Baltimore and 19 percent practice in Baltimore County. About 60 percent of respondents said they have been practicing for at least 20 years.

Among the overall findings:

  • 53 percent of respondents said they either strongly or somewhat agree the overall state of the economy is good, compared to 52 percent in last year’s first quarter survey; 25 percent said they disagree either strongly or somewhat with that view, compared to 20 percent this time last year.
  • 36 percent said they are likely to see an increase in billable hours in the next quarter, compared to 34 percent in the previous first-quarter survey; 28 percent said that would not be the case, up from 26 percent this time last year.
  • 41 percent said they are likely to invest in new technology, down from 47 percent; 30 percent of respondents said they are not likely to do so, up from 27 percent in the first quarter of last year.
  • 43 percent said their firm would invest or expand its marketing operations, up from 49 percent; 31 percent said they would not, up from the first survey’s 29 percent.
  • 23 percent of respondents said they plan on investing in support staff, down from 24 percent in the last year’s first quarter survey; 49 percent of respondents said they don’t plan on investing in support staff, an increase from the 46 percent of respondents who felt that way this time last year
  • 20 percent said they’re likely to hire attorneys in the next three months, down from the 32 percent who felt that way this time last year; 64 percent said they don’t plan on hiring attorneys in the next three months, up from 54 percent from the first quarter 2017.

How the Maryland Lawyers Confidence Index was done

The confidential survey was emailed to The Daily Record master database of subscribers, who were asked if they were attorneys in private practice who did not work for a government agency or for a law school. Respondents who chose “yes” were taken to the survey of seven questions. The survey was also sent to members of the Maryland State Bar Association, the survey’s sponsor. The survey was conducted by Best Companies Group, an experienced market and consumer research company in central Pennsylvania owned by The Daily Record’s parent company. The results were compiled by Best Companies.

An index score for each question and for the overall survey was calculated by taking the (total positive responses – negative responses)/total responses x 100.

Would you like to participate?

If you are an attorney in private practice in Maryland and would like to participate in the quarterly Maryland Lawyers Confidence Index survey, sign up by clicking here. Your name and your survey answers are confidential.

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