Almost 40 percent of corporate legal departments added at least one attorney last year, and nearly as many plan to hire an attorney this year, according to the 2007 InsideCounsel Hiring Survey.

Almost half of those planning to hire cite business expansion as the main reason, with about 15 percent attributing the hiring to bringing more work in-house.

The survey of more than 600 general counsel and other in-house attorneys, to be published in the March issue of InsideCounsel, found that hiring of paralegals and support staff lagged behind attorney hires. Only 24 percent of respondents hired a paralegal in 2006, while 17 percent added support staff. In addition, only 13.4 percent of respondents will be adding paralegals in the coming year and 11 percent will be hiring support staff.