| Legal salaries are rising amid candidate short markets in China, Hong Kong and Singapore according to the findings of Hudson’s first salary survey of 2007.
The survey, based on an annual review by recruitment specialists with their candidates and clients in the region also suggested commercial sentiment for the remaining year will remain positive, with many expecting Asia’s economic upswing to continue. In Singapore, the legal profession is currently feeling a shortage of new and junior lawyers, especially in litigation. Salaries are up as a result and in-house legal teams are trying to catch up with the new hikes led by local firms. Salaries in the sector are the highest they have ever been. “There’s a lack of supply of quality candidates. This is not just unique to the legal sector … it’s a challenge also faced by other sectors,” Chrys Leong, consultant at Hudson, Singapore said. Meanwhile, the buoyant state of the finance market has maintained salary growth in Hong Kong. “We still see salaries rising but the rise is not as steep compared to last year,” Karin Damen, consultant with Hudson, Hong Kong said. “In Hong Kong the sharpest increases were for lawyers in the financial services sector. However, in general, legal salaries are already very good, so when people change jobs the salary increase might not necessarily be very steep,” Damen said. “The territory had strong economic growth last year; its capital market activities are also extremely vigorous – Hong Kong came only after London in terms of capital amount raised,” Florence Pang, consultant with Hudson Hong Kong added. “There is also an emphasis on corporate governance and tightening of control over public companies since the Asian economic turmoil.” Other factors currently influencing legal salaries include the rapid growth of in-house legal departments across Asia, especially in China. “As more and more international law firms and legal departments of multi-national corporations are expanding their team, the Chinese legal market remains good,” Emma Zhang consultant with Hudson, China said. “It is definitely exciting news to all experienced and bright lawyers in this market. They certainly can ask for more remuneration than the past years.” Across the board there are a number of consistent forces that affecting salaries. These include solid language and negotiation skills, and corporate finance and compliance experience. “The really good people who have strong legal experience, strong Mandarin, combined experience in Asia and, for example, the US or UK can ask for more and they often see several companies or law firms bidding for them,” Damen said. Other winners in the current salary race include: “Mid to senior level lawyers who hold good command of English and are specialised in certain areas like banking, complex mergers and acquisitions deals and real estate,” Zhang said. “Senior lawyers who can lead a team and bring in portable business are also extremely welcomed by law firms.” In Hong Kong mid-level lawyers with three to seven years are doing particularly well. “Generally speaking they are in high demand – they are still quite flexible, and affordable, whilst more senior lawyers are not always and more junior lawyers simply lack the experience needed,” Damen said. While salary ranges can differ due to industry type and company size there are common developments in total guaranteed packages and discretionary bonuses. “These are generally high for lawyers, possibly an average of six months,” Leong said. More international law firms are also using alternative incentives such as stock options, shares or variable incentives to retain their lawyers. “But for corporate finance, capital markets and investment bank lawyers who put in extremely long work hours, discretionary bonuses are common and remain a very essential part of their package,” Pang said. “Next to the cash base, bonuses are the most important part of the package,” Damen added. “This has been the case in banking and finance for quite some time already, but law firms who previously did not have bonuses, or only offered very small ones, are changing their strategy on this in order to keep up with the financial industry and each other. Bonuses are still the largest in the financial sector; other industries are – like law firms – including bonuses more and more in their packages as well, but these are smaller than in the financial sector.” Income gaps are emerging in Singapore between international firms and local corporations. In Hong Kong there are also gaps between local and international law firms. “US firms pay the best by far, followed by UK firms. For in-house positions, again the financial industry is known to pay well – in general, better than other industries. Here too, international companies usually pay better than the local ones. However, there will always be exceptions to this,” Damen said. Posted: May 1 2007. |
