Tag Archives: technology

E-docs Lead to Legal Hiring

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Legal secretaries, legal assistants and paralegals are seeing increased hiring across the board due to the need for increased litigation support, according to a recent Tech Flash article. This is due in part to the age of electronic discovery.

“Technology is playing a larger and larger role (in litigation) and a lot of firms are trying to beef that up,” Shelly Langley, owner of Seattle staffing firm Langley Recruiting, says in the article. “I’m seeing more paralegals being hired with database and e-discovery experience.”

One of the primary duties of a paralegal/legal assistant is to organize, review and analyze discovery materials, according to the article. Discovery materials used to be housed in boxes but are now stored on hard drives full of digital documents, emails, Tweets and Facebook postings. This plethora of data is far greater and more complex than the paper files of the past.

“If you’re not up to speed on e-discovery … you can’t compete for the kind of litigation cases everyone wants to get,” Erle Cohen, chief operating officer with the Seattle law firm of Garvey Shubert Barer, says in the article. “In our case, our paralegals wear dual hats and have morphed into the technical role.”

For more information on e-discovery and legal hiring, read the full article by clicking here.

IT Hiring to Increase, According to Survey

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Technology executives expect information technology (IT) hiring to continue in the first quarter of 2012, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. In the latest quarterly survey, 20 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) said they plan to expand their IT departments, and 10 percent expect cutbacks, for a net 10 percent projected increase in hiring activity. This is up four points from the previous quarter’s projections.

The IT Hiring Index and Skills Report is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees. Executives are asked whether their companies plan to increase or decrease the number of full-time IT personnel on their staff during the coming quarter.

The survey is conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis. Robert Half has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

“The employment market for IT professionals has become more active, with many professionals looking for new opportunities,” said John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “The new year, especially, can be a time of transition as companies staff up and IT professionals take stock of their careers.”

For more survey finds and information, read the full press release by clicking here.

IT Workforce Optimistic About Future, Survey Finds

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A new survey of IT professionals conducted by Modis, a leading provider of information technology staffing solutions, shows a large majority (89 percent) of IT professionals are happy at their current job and two-thirds (64 percent) intend to stay where they are presently employed.

This widespread career contentment may be the result of survey respondents feeling that the things they find most critical to their job satisfaction are being fulfilled, according to Modis. These factors include having a boss that does not micromanage (70 percent), having a good salary and benefits (62 percent) and having opportunities to receive training in new technical skills (61 percent).

“These results are consistent with what we are seeing and hearing on a day to day basis at Modis,” said Jack Cullen, president of Modis. “IT professionals are generally happy in their current roles and are cautiously optimistic about what 2012 may bring.”

Braun Research, Inc. conducted the telephone survey on behalf of Modis with 502 IT professionals.

To read more about the survey and its findings, click here.