LegalPlus, a chain of law offices, operates in several locations throughout the nation. Each location is staffed by professional lawyers and paralegals. LegalPlus presently employs 85 full-time equivalent (FTE) lawyers and 175 FTE paralegals. Management is currently reviewing its staffing levels to plan for the upcoming year. A recent forecast of the expected workload for the next year shows that at least 250 FTE employees (both lawyers and paralegals) will be required to staff its locations. The personnel department expects 10 lawyers and 30 paralegals to either leave or retire from the company over the next year. To accommodate the expected attrition and prepare for future growth, management estimates that the firm must hire at least 15 new lawyers. In addition, management stated that there should be no more than two paralegals per professional lawyer. The average salary for a professional lawyer is $40 per hour and the average salary for a paralegal is $10 per hour.
Assuming
L = number of full-time equivalent lawyers, and
P = number of full-time equivalent paralegals
Develop a linear programming model to determine the minimum cost per hour staffing plan for LegalPlus for the upcoming year.