Navigating the legal jobs market can be daunting, but attorneys with business law experience may be in luck, according to a new survey from Robert Half Legal.

Of the 200 law firm and corporate attorneys surveyed, 19 percent predicted that business and commercial law will be the practice area that offers the most job opportunities in 2013, second only to litigation (22%). Healthcare law also came in at 19 percent; no other practice area—including labor and employment, bankruptcy and intellectual property law—came in above 8 percent.

The push for business-savvy attorneys may be partially owing to economic pressures, which are increasingly pushing corporate legal departments to handle matters in-house rather than spending on outside counsel. Respondents also indicated that their organizations have faced at least some difficulties finding legal talent, with 57 percent saying that the search for skilled legal professionals is either “very challenging” or “somewhat challenging.”

Once companies do find qualified in-house counsel, they're committed to keeping them, according to Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal. “With a growing number of law firms and companies looking to hire from the same talent pool, many employers are bolstering their retention efforts to avoid losing valued staff members to other organizations,” he said in a statement.

Read more about the survey from Robert Half Legal.

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Navigating the legal jobs market can be daunting, but attorneys with business law experience may be in luck, according to a new survey from Robert Half Legal.

Of the 200 law firm and corporate attorneys surveyed, 19 percent predicted that business and commercial law will be the practice area that offers the most job opportunities in 2013, second only to litigation (22%). Healthcare law also came in at 19 percent; no other practice area—including labor and employment, bankruptcy and intellectual property law—came in above 8 percent.

The push for business-savvy attorneys may be partially owing to economic pressures, which are increasingly pushing corporate legal departments to handle matters in-house rather than spending on outside counsel. Respondents also indicated that their organizations have faced at least some difficulties finding legal talent, with 57 percent saying that the search for skilled legal professionals is either “very challenging” or “somewhat challenging.”

Once companies do find qualified in-house counsel, they're committed to keeping them, according to Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal. “With a growing number of law firms and companies looking to hire from the same talent pool, many employers are bolstering their retention efforts to avoid losing valued staff members to other organizations,” he said in a statement.

Read more about the survey from Robert Half Legal.

For more InsideCounsel coverage of career news, see:

11 noteworthy in-house career moves

Prediction: 2013 will be the year the associate dies

The 21st century corporate secretary

Inside Experts: The 7 kinds of GCs

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will step down

Former NLRB member joins Ogletree Deakins