In 2023, the legal technology job market experienced a massive recalibration, adjusting to a variety of post-pandemic new normals related to return to office, contract vs full-time hiring, and new variables like the introduction of artificial intelligence, fears of a recession that never happened, and more. 2024 promises to be better than 2023, with a steady stream of hiring throughout legal technology, but with more opportunities and accelerated competition at year's end. Here are the top 10 trends that all hiring managers and job seekers should anticipate in 2024.

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  • A.I. Jobs Get Defined

2023 was a year when a vast number of professionals in a variety of different industry verticals began to brand themselves as having AI or AI governance experience. But 2023 bore very few externally hired full-time or contract opportunities aimed at capturing AI specialization within e-discovery, cybersecurity, or data privacy. 2024 will not be an explosion of AI job opportunity, but rather the beginning of a standardization of role definition as it relates to AI in the legal technology community. Roles most likely to evolve first are AI attorneys in two varieties: attorneys who understand current and future legislative and regulatory rules and requirements related to how a business can or should leverage AI, and lawyers who have begun experimenting successfully at wielding and integrating AI technology into their legal practice. Additionally, expect to see the emergence of governance, engineering, prompt and project management, and C-suite positions gaining visibility, credibility, and accountability for how organizations integrate artificial intelligence.

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  • Privacy Contractor Staffing Reaches All-Time High

In 2023, privacy programs in corporate America struggled to get the budget and buy-in necessary to meet all their business' demands and ambitions related to privacy compliance, risk, and opportunity. Over the course of 2023, there was a growing appetite to hire contract talent within the data privacy sector and a growing pool of diverse available candidates. In 2024, hiring managers will continue to face challenges regarding full-time direct hire head count approval, but many will get permission and budget to hire contractors—some in a fractional capacity. Whether the role is for a strategic leadership position, a privacy engineer or analyst, privacy operational talent, privacy attorneys, or lawyers with some AI governance experience, the job market will be flush with both short-term impact and long-term perpetual contract jobs. TRU anticipates for the first time ever privacy contract augmentation will breach 50% of privacy jobs filled over the course of 2024 in the Fortune 1000 and Am Law 200.

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  • Chief Privacy Officers (CPOs) Evolve

Among the hundreds of chief privacy officers that TRU represents, more than three-quarters committed up to 30% of their time in 2023 to addressing questions, concerns, curiosities, and action items related to AI within their organizations. In 2024, CPOs will begin to consider negotiating for changes in title and/or compensation to reflect the expanding nature of their roles and responsibilities. In some organizations, this will lead to a completely new role for an existing chief privacy officer, creating much-needed vertical opportunity to promote from within, or companies will hire externally for an impact player with strong privacy leadership to backfill. Other CPOs whose responsibilities expand but titles do not may be the most likely to hire contract privacy talent in 2024 to handle the 30% (or less) of their job for which they no longer have bandwidth.

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  • Three Days or Fewer In-Office Requirement Is the New Normal

Requiring three days or fewer in an office from your staff is the new normal. The more fully remote an opportunity, the faster the search, and the more candidates will be available at the employer's desired salary level. The more in-office an opportunity, the longer the search, and the higher the potential cost for talent acquisition. In 2020, there was an instant shift and subsequent adoption of hiring employees in a hybrid capacity by requiring three days or fewer in an office. In 2015, 94% of jobs filled by TRU required four or more days in an office, but by 2023, 92% of offers accepted required only three or fewer in-office days per week.