Hays Legal - January 2010

Hotspots

Consumer banking, private wealth management and equity capital markets are the prime areas of demand. Investment banks are hiring again, with vacancies across capital markets and derivatives.

Within private practice, junior to mid level lawyers (with between two and five years PQE) with banking, capital markets and M&A experience are sought. International law firms continue to position themselves for the expected rise in work this quarter and into next quarter. But the shortage of local lawyers with the appropriate technical knowledge means candidates from Greater China and external jurisdictions are of interest.

Lawyers at the mid to senior level with Mandarin language skills, Hong Kong or common law qualification and international law firm experience are sought for corporate teams. Finally, employers want general commercial litigation candidates at the mid to senior level. Lawyers must be Hong Kong qualified and have Chinese language skills.

The coming quarter

The outlook for Hong Kong's legal market continues to remain more positive and we expect hiring to lift after Chinese New Year. Within MNCs, the focus remains on permanent recruitment, although there has been an increase in the number of six to 12 month contracts as employers bypass permanent headcount restrictions. More demand is evident across all areas of the finance sector, including investment banking, private wealth management, investment management and securities houses.

Within private practice, the majority of employers have positive hiring needs for this first quarter of the year. In particular, corporate (M&A, Private Equity and IPO) teams will be increasingly busy, with demand for additional mid to senior level lawyers consequently high. Litigation will also be busy this quarter as claims continue to arise. The litigation practices are full of activity and strategic hires are being made at the mid to senior level.

Salaries

Salaries remain stable as budgets remain tight. No downward movement is expected though, with employers aware that such a move would create retention issues long-term. As the market shows signs of improvement, candidates are becoming more confident again in their salary demands. Salary increases remain five to 10 per cent on average.

Candidate trends

The in-house candidate pool remains healthy, but the number of immediately available candidates has decreased as lawyers wait for their bonus. Banks are still reluctant to offer sign-on bonuses to legal candidates.

Within private practice, there has been a dramatic increase in the volume of corporate candidates at the junior level (NQ to three years PQE) due to redundancies and the shortage of candidates retained upon qualification this intake. Yet niche areas remain candidate short, with few candidates holding the relevant technical knowledge.

The number of candidates using the market slowdown to update their qualifications and commence further education has risen dramatically.