Legal Hiring Trends 2023

Legal Professionals in Highest Demand

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Lawyers 47%
Legal Secretaries, Legal Administrative Assistants 18%
Paralegals 16%

The ranking of roles is based on proprietary analysis of more than 186,000 positions posted on more than 300 independent job boards and company websites across Canada over the previous two quarters. Percentages reflect quarter-over-quarter growth.

Law Firms and Legal Departments Are Hiring — and Challenges Continue

January-June 2023

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Hiring for new roles

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Hiring for vacated roles

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Facing challenges finding skilled talent

Demand for Contract Workers Increases

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of legal managers plan to hire more contract professionals in the first half of 2023.

Top areas where lawyers and managers plan to add contract professionals:

Law firms:

Lawyers
Legal support
Legal research and analysis

Legal departments:

Corporate in-house counsel
Compliance administration/lease administration (tie)
Data privacy/legal support (tie)

Hottest Practice Areas for Legal Professionals Seeking a New Job

Legal practice areas offering the most job opportunities, according to employers:

Labour and employment: 53 per cent
Privacy, data security, information law: 50 per cent
Ethics/corporate governance: 49 per cent

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of legal professionals are looking or plan to look for a new job in the first half of the year.

Current Unemployment Rates

0.1%

Lawyers

3.0%

Paralegals and legal assistants

3.4%

Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

Labour Unemployment Numbers — December 2022, Statistics Canada, Jan. 6, 2023.

In-Demand Roles and Hiring Trends by Profession

See which jobs employers want to hire for soon, based on Robert Half’s unique demand scoring system.

Administrative and Customer Support

Finance and Accounting

Human Resources

Legal

Marketing and Creative

Technology

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Canadian Job Market Outlook

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Remote Job Trends

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Data Sources:

*Robert Half calculations are based on job postings provided by TalentNeuron™, a comprehensive source of global labor market analytics by Gartner®. GARTNER and TALENTNEURON are registered trademarks and service marks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in Canada and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Labour Force Summary — April 2023, Statistics Canada, May 5, 2023

Labour Unemployment Numbers — April 2023, Statistics Canada, May 5, 2023

Online surveys were developed by Robert Half and conducted by independent research firms. Respondents included executives, senior managers and employees from small (20-249 employees), medium (250-499 employees) and large (500+ employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.