After a cautious start to the quarter, legal hiring picked up meaningfully by mid-Q2. Regulatory concerns and broader economic uncertainty initially led to hesitation. But by late May and June, demand surged back.
At the midpoint of 2025, legal teams are still investing in flexible talent, but what they’re hiring for, and how they engage, is continuing to evolve. Here are the three legal hiring trends we saw in Q2:
In Q2, legal hiring centered on contracts, M&A, product counseling, privacy, and internal investigations, with contracts and privacy showing the strongest quarter-over-quarter growth among non-commercial practice areas.
Requests were increasingly specific and strategic, shifting away from generalist or catch-all needs. Clients came to us for targeted support, such as advancing growth initiatives, managing deal flow, scaling commercial negotiations, or driving compliance implementation, rather than backfills or short-term help.
Meanwhile, demand for legal operations and paralegal support were low, reflecting a tighter focus on high-impact priorities.
Clients are increasingly using flexible talent for specialized, business-critical work rather than as generalist coverage. Strategic priorities such as growth, compliance implementation, and deal execution are driving demand, while lower priority areas like legal operations and paralegal support are seeing less activity.
Despite early caution tied to macroeconomic uncertainty, including regulatory shifts and concerns about “Liberation Day”, Q2 gained significant momentum.
Teams resumed hiring, interview processes accelerated, and first-time users of flexible legal talent entered the market at a notable rate.
This strong and fast rebound suggests legal teams are more confident making strategic hires, even amid an unpredictable economic and geopolitical backdrop.
Despite ongoing unpredictability in the economic and geopolitical backdrop, legal teams recognized the need to move quickly to secure the talent they required. Faster decision-making and the willingness of first-time users to engage flexible legal support suggest that strategic hiring is happening even in uncertain conditions.
Flexible legal talent isn’t just filling gaps; it’s becoming core to long-term planning.
Most Q2 roles were scoped for full-time and 6 months or longer, often extending beyond original timelines.
We also saw an uptick in full-time interim roles, showing a willingness to commit when the right skill set is in place.
Rather than short bursts of support, legal teams are building continuity and leadership into their interim hiring strategy.
Legal teams are prioritizing continuity and leadership in their interim hiring strategies. By investing in mid-to-long-term engagements, organizations can ensure steady progress on key projects and maintain institutional knowledge — without prematurely locking into permanent hires.
Legal hiring in the first half of 2025 is being shaped by a deeper integration of flexible talent into core team strategy. Instead of reactive, stopgap solutions, legal departments are increasingly turning to experienced interim attorneys to lead complex work-streams, fill capability gaps, and support business-critical functions.
The shift toward specialized, mid-to-long-term engagements signals a more mature, strategic approach to legal resourcing. As organizations face continued regulatory change and economic uncertainty, flexible legal talent offers a way to stay agile without compromising on quality, leadership, or continuity.
At Paragon Legal, we help companies find the right balance of in-house, flexible, and outside counsel talent to meet evolving needs. Want to discuss how interim legal counsel can work for your team? Let’s connect.
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