Iowa Legal Job Options

According to the GigaLaw Firm – a firm run by Dunlap’s own Carole Levitt – transitioning the contract hiring process for IT specialists to the Bench Direct website has saved her not only time but money as well, allowing her to hire specifically for the skills her clients require.

The key lesson here is that legal job options in Iowa are being offered by companies like Bench Direct, and can be made to work with the same efficiency. The problem facing most employers is that they simply lack the time to pour over resumes and make the best decision for their needs, which is why sites like Direct Bench become so important. Likewise, people seeking Iowa legal jobs are often not represented well, as they don’t have the resources to explain their skills well among all the other candidates out there. Having more room for efficiency, the firm can take their time in finding the right fit for IT specialists, and so should those hiring for legal jobs in Iowa.

Just like IT contractors, most lawyers want to know that the position being advertised is nailed down by the employer, and that their time is respected. A job posting from a law firm should come highly rated, should take less than three clicks to apply for, and how duties are sorted out at the firm should not be overly complex. A bright-minded candidate with the appropriate legal education who sees an unreasonable job posting is likely to simply walk away, and remember that the firm was either here or not when they were looking for work. There is only so many Iowa legal jobs to go around, after all.

Not only do firms need to be more efficient, and more user-friendly for those seeking Iowa legal jobs, but they also need to bring specifications and expectations into the job postings themselves. If you’re looking for a litigation specialist to undergo an exclusive insurance defense, then you need to say so in the job description. A vague “attorney” posting sends job applicants running because, no matter how MBA-researched it may be, “attorney” is a really bad word. If you’re looking for an appellate or land use specialist, you have to advertise for them, and that means being specific.

Tech companies found this out the hard way, and the Iowa legal jobs marketplace is no different. Right now, two legal jobs are in high demand: attorney and paralegal. According to Derek Lotts, a HR guru for LegalJobsIOWA, the number of Iowa legal jobs dropped by a quarter just between 2007 and 2009, a time span when legal jobs in neighboring Minnesota actually rose. This means that retained attorneys are being forced to specialize more and more in order to survive, and this in turn leads to lay-offs. Furthermore, the need for legal tasks to be reduced to their least possible components is leading to an increasing number of delegations, which in itself also requires specialization.

For example, where would the business world be without document review? Paralegal and litigation work have exploded in the past decade, making other areas of practice such as business and family law significantly reduced. Litigation tasks, however, are still on the increase, and this is a job field that the top schools of Iowa can’t seem to keep up with.

As with contractors, technological advancement has vastly modified the Iowa legal job landscape and will continue to do so. On-demand software has made it clear that speed is essential to success, and so having an application and approval process that takes less time than the time needed to do due diligence is essential. Good lawyers are busy lawyers, and they cannot become better by taking the time to find future jobs.