Thirty-one percent of lawyers plan to hire legal staff in the first quarter of 2012, but another 4 percent expect to cut staff, according to the a quarterly legal hiring survey by Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing firm.

The net 27 percent growth in anticipated hiring is up from last quarter's estimation at a net 24 percent, and respondents expect to hire an average of two full-time employees. Law firms are expected to do the Lawyers, paralegals and legal secretaries are the top positions.

The survey also finds that 51 percent of respondents say finding skilled legal professionals is difficult, which is up from 49 percent from the previous quarter, and 73 percent of respondents are somewhat or very confident in their companies' growth outlooks in the next three months; marking a nine-point drop from the fourth quarter of 2011.

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