April’s Eye on ESI, brought together Jared Coseglia, founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners and special guest Glen McFarlane, managing director, Cyber & Data Resilience, Discovery Solutions of Kroll to discuss the latest ESI trends and practical tips on job search and professional development.
Coseglia: Everyone asks where we get our data. The slide below shows our sources.
The top 5 hottest Jobs slide shows that there is much opportunity in the midmarket job sector but also a good amount of executive-level hiring going on right now, too.
TRU recruiters are seeing director level roles and above at law firms and at service providers as well. There is an increased capacity for growth at the upper middle management level of the ecosystem as many individuals are taking on additional responsibilities, namely generative AI solutions. We’re seeing a flurry of promotions and upper-level shuffling that is leading to opportunities to replace those roles. Vendors were stagnant in hiring in past months but are now increasing their hiring exponentially. Law firms are very busy and are hiring at a fast pace.
First we thought we’d talk about what happened at LegalWeek 2025. That conference has always been sort of an e-discovery-centric event. That appears to be changing.
My big takeaway from LegalWeek, and I’m curious what Glen’s observations were, is that most of my e-discovery and litigation talent is now responsible for generative AI at their firms. By that, I don’t just mean in ESI but firmwide – they are getting pulled in because AI is a very profitable, revenue-generating line of business. I think that because of AI, e-discovery may be facing a major re-invention in the months to come, I expect ESI pros to take on far-reaching responsibilities in their firms.
McFarlane: I am seeing the same thing. I’ve got the benefit of working on both sides being inside a major financial institution and now being a consultant. AI definitely dominated LegalWeek, and rightfully so. I think e-discovery pros are successful in generative AI because the field is less about ideation and more about proven results and showing return in the value of the investment. With that comes a lot of respect and it elevates the status of those folks internally. And if people wonder if AI is going to take their job, the answer is probably no. AI is not here to take your job, it is here to take your tasks that you haven’t enjoyed doing, like summarizing documents or first-pass reviews. If tech can handle it, tech should do it. AI allows professionals like us to do more value-added, strategic work.
Coseglia: I think evolving in your ESI job is required. If you enjoy the tasks that AI can easily take over, you MIGHT lose your job – but what are doing about it in the meantime? Employees need to look at their bandwidth and create opportunities for themselves to get more training or to level up. Re-invention is not a nice to have – it’s a requirement if you want to stay in the game.
Another thing I associate with LegalWeek is hiring in a down economy. ESI hiring managers are pushing for full-time hires who are billable – and that creates stability. We’re seeing more increases in compensation in ESI because demand is so high. Law firms and vendors came to LegalWeek to hire. Lastly, conferences like LegalWeek are one of the best ways to get face time with customers. At events like this, all the parties are aligned to meet up and do business.
Next up, let’s talk about how the eDiscovery job market handled the ups and downs of Wall Street last month. No one cancelled any open roles with TRU. There’s no need for panic.
TRU recruiters have received numerous inquiries from nervous job seekers about the timing of job searches. I’ll say this: If you have FOMO and haven’t made a job move in the last few years, you should move now. The job market will be lucrative in the next six to 12 months.
Hiring managers are moving full-steam ahead to fill roles while they have headcount approval. As a result, the speed of hire has accelerated, likely from the volatility on Wall Street, as hiring managers fear they will lose headcount approval if the downward spiral continues. TRU is placing contractors within six days and all other roles within 30 days.
Finally, job seekers are prioritizing cash as motivation for changing roles over improving their quality of life.
Moving on to April trends – we saw more ESI job seekers accept positions last month than in any month in the last two years. I predict here will be a wave of resignations soon that will trigger a whole new set of job openings.
Full-time hiring still dominates over contract roles. This is because ESI pros bill their time and employers can measure their monetization.
In one of the most interesting turns of events, remote work is BACK. After declining in availability for months, remote work spiked at 84% of all jobs accepted in March, and a majority of those roles were full-time direct hires, and law firms hired remote workers as often as vendors. The slide below shows how dramatic that change is.
Remote roles get filled much faster at 15 to 30 days. When we see these spikes in the marketplace, it has to do with the speed of hire. Remote and contract work are favorites of job seekers and they get filled almost 100 days faster then any roles with in-office requirements. TRU is seeing opportunity everywhere with salary increases of up to 20%.
McFarlane: In addition to the salary increases you mentioned, I think this is also a testament to discovery professionals to the rising complexity to the work that we do and that we are being asked to handle. If you think about all the new technologies an ESI pro uses to do their job, it takes a very high degree of subject matter expertise, and employers are willing to pay for that.
Coseglia: The slide below shows where the jobs are now versus one year ago. You can see that the salaries have increased in the $150-$200k range by 80%.
This is a result of a recycling community. It’s expensive to recycle but as this industry does not create farming systems, hiring managers will continue to pay more money to steal away employees from other sources. From the slide below, you’ll see organizations still dominating ESI hiring but vendors are picking up.
In terms of salaries, specialists and project managers went up – this is the middle of the market. It’s rare for TRU to place people at the bottom of the ranges – our placements are near the ceiling of these ranges and you’ll start to see them go up by 10%.
To illustrate the percentage of salary increases based on years of experience, see the chart below. From the entry-level end, you’ve must be willing to take a pay cut to break into the industry. But after a year of experience, your earning potential increases very rapidly.
Another interesting trend is the offer acceptance likelihood. Despite the increased competition in the marketplace, job seekers are still overwhelmingly accepting the first offer they receive. Being the first offer matters.
Now is the time to take advantage of the blazing hot ESI job market, especially if you are in the middle of the market. And if you’re a hiring manger, you need expert help to navigate the intense competition for the best talent. Reach out to TRU Staffing Partners today.