By Michele Gorman

Law360 (March 11, 2020, 3:12 PM EDT ) The rapidly evolving coronavirus outbreak is altering in-house departments' interview processes and causing others to suspend hiring altogether, introducing kinks into what has recently been a robust legal job market, some recruiters say.

On both the in-house and law firm side, last year and the beginning of 2020 saw upward ticks in hiring, experts say. This year started strong, continuing the trend from 2019, according to recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

But through conducting job searches and from conversations with legal department hiring managers and candidates, Solutus Legal Search LLC founding partner Julie Brush said she has observed a shift in hiring since about mid-February — amid growing concern among in-house teams about the coronavirus.

"It's not this full-blown, 'Oh my gosh, it's totally affected hiring, everything is stopped,'" she said. "It's just a little drag. There's a little bit more cautiousness."

As legal departments work to protect the health of their lawyers and job candidates, some are relying more heavily on phone conversations and video conferencing for interviews — or even indefinitely pausing the hiring process, legal recruiters say. Hiring teams are worried about putting candidates' health at risk and about the well-being of their current employees conducting face-to-face interviews with prospective hires.

As these changes occur, there's unease that the spread of the virus might have a lingering impact on business and hiring.

One potential downside for a legal department that has stalled its hiring process is attorney burnout, Brush said. If teams are unable to fill roles in a timely manner, that could create more work for existing in-house lawyers. And an overload could lead to a dissatisfied legal team, which could then negatively influence morale and retention.

If they haven't done so already, general counsel and other hiring managers should assess how they'll manage their legal department and the workload if open positions aren't filled soon, Brush said.

The novel coronavirus, which can lead to the disease known as COVID-19, only recently started becoming more widespread in the United States. In the country, 29 deaths have been linked to the virus, and there are more than 930 cases in 38 states and Washington, D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest tally Wednesday.

The disease has also contributed to escalating market volatility: Monday marked the worst day for the U.S. and other major stock markets since the 2008 financial crisis.

Even though there's much uncertainty surrounding the potential scale of the outbreak, some legal professionals say it's difficult to extrapolate the impact of the coronavirus across all law departments, noting it will likely influence industries and regions differently.

"Using analysis similar to other business decisions, each company's response may be unique, as they will have to judge the financial impact to their organization on a case-by-case basis," said Susanna McDonald, vice president and chief legal officer at the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Over the past few weeks, some businesses began offering a remote option to employees — even to those who traditionally haven't been able to work from home — and eliminated nonessential travel, especially to countries most heavily affected by the coronavirus.

And some departments have been more flexible while trying to fill open roles, including delaying interviews for candidates who express concerns about traveling in public spaces to meet in-person, said Lee Presser, managing partner at RPN Executive Search LLC.

"It's not like anyone is asking directly, 'Is it because of coronavirus?'" he said. "It's sort of just a given that people's schedules are a little bit in flux right now."

He added, "Whether you're running a search firm or a law firm or a Fortune 500 company, people aren't being judged based on their unwillingness to get on a plane and go across the country to do a first-round or second-round interview, even if it's ultimately their dream job. I think the whole world is rightfully on pause a little bit right now."

For the interviews that are taking place, hiring teams exploring a virtual hiring process might consider more rigorous techniques that can replicate the on-site experience, said Sara Eng, vice president of legal partnerships at InCloudCounsel.

For example, at the legal technology company, Eng said they use role plays, simulations of on-the-job tasks and timed drafting exercises to help assess a candidate in a virtual setting.

She also suggested managers think about training their recruiters to ensure virtual interviews are seamless and hiring standards are maintained.

"The candidate will still be expecting a world-class recruiting experience, and this is a good opportunity to show candidates how adaptable and innovative their future employer can be," Eng said.

Others agreed. Presser and Brush encouraged in-house departments to capitalize on interviews to inform candidates how they're handling the outbreak. Doing so will demonstrate to prospective hires that the company cares about its employees and values, and plans for potential crises, they said.

"How one behaves or reacts in certain situations is a tell," Brush said. "These situations provide opportunities to demonstrate who they are, the character of the people."

Meanwhile, in-house departments should be aware that going forward, more lawyers might ask hiring managers during their interviews about the kinds of workplace policies the legal team or company enacted during the coronavirus threat.

And companies previously considering flexible policies might now be forced to allow their employees to work from home, Presser said.

"Nobody wanted this sort of litmus test with the coronavirus," he said. "But it's providing a chance for companies to see if a lot of the mechanisms that they put in place for specific attorneys who needed it coming in and the ability to work from home, how effective are those?"

It's unclear when companies might see the situation start to settle down. The number of reported cases over the weekend exceeded 100,000 in 100 countries, according to the World Health Organization, which on Wednesday declared the outbreak a pandemic.

But some experts have already noticed a slight improvement. According to the WHO, China "is bringing its epidemic under control," and on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, for the first time since the epidemic began in the country — a sign to some that the worst of it is over in some parts of the world.

When the virus isn't a threat anymore, hiring managers will likely start scheduling more in-person interviews, and the process will get back on track, Brush said.

In the meantime, she advised general counsel to stay connected with their teams to ensure lawyers aren't feeling overwhelmed, and continue to assess the market and hiring strategies to attract the best talent as quickly as possible once the pause is lifted.

"I think this is a temporary situation," Brush said. "I think it will take a little bit of time for the markets to recover from it, but it shouldn't take an extensive period of time."

--Additional reporting by Emma Cueto. Editing by Philip Shea and Kelly Duncan.

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