Insights & Resources

So far this year, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Pittsburgh’s third-largest law firm, has hired 19 lawyers in Pittsburgh, and it’s far from finished.

“We’ll probably have 22 by year-end,” said Laurie Lenigan, director of legal recruiting. “We’re just really busy.”

That’s nearly half the total of 41 lawyers Buchanan has added firmwide in 2010 and a dramatic change from 2009, when it brought on just two in Pittsburgh, or even 2008 when it hired 13.

Buchanan is not alone. Several Pittsburgh firms have upped their ranks this year.
 

Lori Carpenter, president of Downtown-based recruitment firm Carpenter Legal Search, said she wouldn’t call the current hiring environment “robust,” but it’s certainly up from last year when the recession hit hard.

“In April of 2009, law firm hiring came to a dead stop, and only about a year later did we start to see activity,” Carpenter said.

“That activity has increased as the year has continued to progress. Overall, we have seen that, as the economy is starting to recover, partners and groups who have been contemplating career moves appear to be less risk adverse.”

Carpenter anticipates seeing more activity in 2011.

Read More: After a slow 2009 marked by the downturn, Pittsburgh area law firms have been hiring again - by Patty Tascarella, Pittsburgh Business Times