过去一年的法律工作即将告一段落，我们和几位法律行业的招聘专家聊了聊：2019年，哪个执业领域的律师最受欢迎？律师最为必要的技能又是什么？律师们在薪资水平、城市选择方面有何动向？他们的法务同伴们又面临了怎样的招聘环境？
在2019年中国经济进入放缓周期、中美贸易摩擦前景不定的情况下，法律服务行业作为市场经济的组成部分也不免受到影响，律所及企业对于法律人才的需求也发生了变化，而招聘人员是这之中最为敏锐的“感受器”。
“招聘受经济活动影响，而法律服务又滞后于经济活动，于今年显现出了诸多变化。”Page Group-Page Executive*大中华区法律招聘首席顾问刘泽南告诉ALB。（*Page Executive是Page Group下与Michael Page互补的高端招聘品牌——编注。）“2015年到2018年初，伴随红圈所扩张和地方所全国布局，律所在人才需求上经历了扩张。但到2019年下半年，放缓节奏很明显，律所在经费支出上都很谨慎。”
放缓首先表现在对资本市场类律师的需求量上。“中美贸易战、经济不确定性高，加上香港最近的局势，资本市场和公司法类律师的需求有所收缩。”SSQ负责外资所在中国大陆地区招聘的黄至䣭经理告诉ALB。不过刘泽南补充说：“这个领域内有五年以上执业经验的高级别律师依旧很有市场。”
好消息
与之相对，合规、数据保护及知识产权领域律师在2019年很受欢迎。“中国的合规环境变得更加严格，美国所的FCPA业务、中国所的公司调查和数据合规业务都需要更多人才。”刘泽南说。
“围绕人工智能革命，律所需求也发生了新变化，首先需要更多做网络安全和数据隐私的律师，此外是知识产权律师。而且律所要求律师深入相关行业，很多时候还要求他们拥有技术背景。”黄至䣭说。
刘泽南还观察到，中国“一带一路” 效果初现，大型海外收并购项目，尤其有是矿业、新型能源、基础设施类相关行业经验的并购和融资律师需求出现反弹，“律所要求这些人拥有大型项目经验，不少人是从国外回流的。”
她还看到了律所对于另一类特殊人才的需要。“伴随大型中资所的转型，它们在配套设置COO、招聘有经验的高级市场负责人方面做了很大投入。有的是从咨询和广告公司招人做律所运营管理，还有一种折中方式：从合伙人团队中选出愿意从事相关工作的人。”
法律技能外，律所也希望招聘更多综合素质优秀的律师。“中国所、外资所在沟通能力上都表达出了很明确的需求。”刘泽南说，“最起码要求律师拥有良好的沟通和维系客户能力，并在维系过程中寻找客户的新需求。最近还有一些合伙人跟我强调了‘说服力’问题，在为客户提供法律建议时，很多问题并非单纯的法律问题，这个时候你怎么更好地表达出来，让客户可以接受？”
薪酬稳定
虽然对律师的要求越来越全面，但2019年，刘泽南观察到律所薪资并未过于浮动变化，她指出，律所对于大浮动的调薪很谨慎，稳定的薪水是一家律所业务稳定的信号之一。她认为在各级别律师工资普遍稳定的情况下，市场决定了其他层面的收入水平。“比如年终奖取决于律所本身或合伙人团队的经营情况；还有因为一些领域业务平缓，律师议价能力不高，就会接受一个偏低于市场一般涨幅的工资。”
外资所的情况则有所不同。黄至䣭指出，外资所在入门职位薪资水平上感到了一定的竞争压力。“许多外资所想招的初年级律师多了红圈所这项选择，为保持一定的竞争力，适当调整入门级别工资是最直接的方法。薪酬是一方面，但另一方面是更长远的职业规划。很多年轻律师现在选择红圈所是希望更快升为合伙人、带领自己的团队。这一点具有联营所平台的外资所可能较有优势，可以在一定程度上实现较灵活的安排。”
更多选择
哪座中国城市在过去一年中为律师提供了更好的发展机会？在黄至䣭看来，随着中国法律市场不断成熟，城市间也有了不同专业领域之分，“比如做医药行业的大部分律师会选择去上海，再比如深圳TMT行业比较聚集，很多外资所如果这方面做得好，就会选择在深圳开分所。”
刘泽南也认为深圳2019年在吸引法律人才上尤为突出，尤其受到大湾区政策倾斜的影响，这也一定程度上导致了外资律所陆续在深圳开设代表处。此外，“中国最高院巡回法庭增加到了6个，在新增城市里南京比较有竞争力。此外还有成都，虽然不是新增巡回法庭所在城市，但在经济上可以辐射到整个西南，也是很有竞争力的城市。”
创业公司驱动法务招聘
2019年律师的法务同伴们又面临着怎样的就业环境？为此我们采访了另外两名招聘专家。
Michael Page（米高蒲志）高级招聘顾问李涛综合了全国六家办公室在中国企业及外企法务招聘方面的数据，她告诉ALB：“总体来看，2019年法务招聘量最大的是中国企业，但出于行业和城市区别，中国企业2019年整体招聘数量略有下降，外企整体则比较稳定。”
SSQ高级经理袁俊斌告诉ALB，2019年在华美国及欧洲公司对法律人才的需求量依旧很大，但“一般是既有岗位的人员更新换代。而且随着招聘预算和公司经营模式调整，公司对法律人才的需求量也有所下降。” 与此同时，“中国有名的创新企业对法律人才的需求量有所增长，而且很多都是新岗位，主要涉及数据安全、私募基金、商业及合规领域。”
对此李涛有更为细致的观察。“中国中小型科技企业在招聘法务方面有个趋势：业务刚起步时可能没有或只有极少量法务，当业务发展到一定阶段，尤其资本进入时，会对法务的数量、质量产生要求。此外细分科技行业例如人工智能、区块链企业对于法务需求都有增量。”
关键技能
在法务专业能力方面，“今年最热的话题就是网络安全、数据隐私以及和国际贸易相关的合规问题。”袁俊斌说，“ 人工智能、网络、电子商务、零售及消费产业都花费了许多时间和金钱，帮助法务掌握更深入的行业知识。与此同时制造业则希望法务更懂和出口控制及贸易合规相关的时事政策。”
李涛补充说：“在数据保护层面，企业需要的不是从一到二的跟进型法务，而是要求法务能够从零到一，把企业的数据保护体系搭建起来。此外企业还要求法务能够想象商业场景，提前预见风险，在业务部门提出问题时去积极并及时解决。”
虽然要求越来越高，然而根据李涛所收集的初步数据，除医药、医疗设备相关行业的法务薪资有所增长，2019年各个级别的法务薪资都有下降，降幅最少在10%，而且对许多中国企业来说，“它们依旧认为法务是成本，而非增值”。
城市多样性
不过法务们在城市层面选择更加丰富了。在一线城市中，“上海对法律人才的需求依然最稳定；北京由于政治地位，提供着更纷繁复杂的法律岗位，国企、私企、金融机构、创新企业和国际公司都想要招聘法律人才。长期来看，公司和人才可能都会继续向大湾区流动，深圳的需求增量最明显。” 袁俊斌说。
李涛则分享了一些新兴城市：“ 杭州越来越受青睐，它主要依托互联网，创业气氛浓厚，薪酬也比别的二线城市高；此外还有成都，互联网、科技产业聚集，还有很多世界500强公司把办公室放到了成都，因此吸引了很多回流的年轻人。其次武汉、南京、西安，都是值得关注的地方。”
The Year in Recruitment
Legal recruitment trends in 2019 reflected the needs of law firms and their clients – for example, while capital markets specialists saw demand slowing, compliance lawyers were increasingly sought after. In this roundup of hiring trends in the year gone by, legal recruiters talk about what practice areas and skillsets were most popular with hiring managers in both private practice and in-house.
With China’s economy witnessing a slowdown and the trade war still raging on, hiring in the legal services industry in 2019 was negatively impacted, according to recruiters with first-hand knowledge of the situation.
“In the period between 2015 and early 2018, law firms experienced an expansion in demand for talent, but by the second half of 2019, the pace of the slowdown was obvious, and law firms were cautious about spending money,” says Liu Zenan, legal recruitment principal for Greater China at Page Executive. For one, capital markets and M&A lawyers were less sought after. “In light of the Sino-U.S. trade war, the demand for capital markets and corporate lawyers has shrunk,” said Levana Huang, manager at recruitment consultancy SSQ.
THE GOOD NEWS
However, it was not all gloomy; compliance, data protection and intellectual property lawyers were popular in 2019. This was owing to the strong demand for talent to cope with the compliance landscape in China. Additionally, U.S. law firms were seeing an increase in FCPA work, while Chinese law firms were growing their corporate investigations and antitrust practices.
With the advent of AI, there was more demand for lawyers specializing in cybersecurity, data privacy and intellectual property. Huang says that these lawyers were expected to be highly proficient technically.
Liu also observed the effect of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on legal work, with a rebound in demand for lawyers specializing in large over-seas M&As, especially in industries like mining, renewable energy and infrastructure. “Law firms prefer lawyers with experience in large projects, particularly those who have returned to China from overseas,” she notes.
She also saw firms ramping up their recruitment of non-legal professionals. Large Chinese law firms, in particular, are beginning to create positions like COO and senior marketing head.
And they also expected their lawyers to be multi-faceted. “In addition to legal skills, both Chinese and foreign law firms also want to recruit more lawyers with good overall skillsets. Lawyers are expected to have good communication skills and the ability to retain clients, and to discover new pain points from clients in the process,” Liu says, “When advising clients, the lawyers find that they are not simply tackling a legal problem, and thus ‘being persuasive’ is of great importance.”
PAY STABLE
Liu did not observe any overly excessive changes to lawyers’ salaries among Chinese law firms in 2019. She points out that law firms are reluctant to make drastic changes as salary stability tends to be an indicator of the overall stability of the firm. Market conditions were also an important factor in determining salary level. With the year-end bonus dependent on the performance of the firm and its partners, it was also possible that if the economy was not good, fresh graduates would be offered lower salaries.
The situation for foreign law firms was different. They were under some pressure to offer a higher salary at the entry-level as fresh graduates also have the option of joining Red Circle firms. “Some young talents choose Red Circle firms as they have a long-term plan for their careers; they want to grow rapidly and become partners soon, eventually leading their teams,” Huang adds.
MORE CITIES TO CHOOSE FROM
In Huang’s view, as China’s legal market continues to mature, cities will attract lawyers who want to specialize in specific industries. For examples, most lawyers focused on the pharmaceutical industry will choose to work in Shanghai, while Shenzhen attracts TMT lawyers.
Additionally, with Circuit Courts being established in various cities, they are becoming new magnets for legal talent. “Nanjing is the most competitive among the newly added cities,” says Liu. “Another upcoming city is Chengdu. Although it doesn’t have a Circuit Court, it is a hub for all of Southwestern China.”
STARTUPS DRIVING IN-HOUSE GROWTH
Meanwhile, on the in-house side, established companies are cutting back on recruitment, while startups are driving demand for lawyers. Frank Yuen a senior manager of SSQ China, says that U.S. and European companies are still very active in the legal recruitment market.
“However, most of the mandates are replacement searches for existing business and legal positions. We are seeing a slowdown in recruitment needs due to tighten budgets or restructuring of business operations. Meanwhile, there is rising demand from reputable Chinese startups in first- and second-tier cities. Many of those positions are newly created headcounts which seek legal expertise related to data privacy, PE, commercial and compliance,” he notes.
His experience is echoed by Sophia Li, senior consultant at Michael Page.
“Small and medium-sized Chinese IT enterprises only had a few or even no in-house counsel at the beginning. In the course of their growth, as capital comes in, there are increasing demands when it comes to both the quality and quantity of in-house counsel. In particular, AI and blockchain companies have an increasing demand for legal personnel.”
KEY SKILLS
So what kinds of expertise are most sought after by corporate legal departments?
“The hottest skillsets this year are cyber-security, data privacy and compliance issues related to international trade,” Yuen says. “AI, the Internet, e-commerce, retail and consumer companies are all spending a lot of time and money to help their in-house counsel acquire more in-depth industry knowledge. Meanwhile, manufacturing companies are seeking in-house counsel who have a good understanding of the latest policies related to export controls and trade compliance.”
Li says that with data compliance burdens increasing, companies are seeking personnel who can help them build a data protection system from scratch. “Furthermore, in-house counsel are also required to be able to imagine business scenarios, anticipate risks, and assist business units to proactively solve problems,” added Li.
The bad news is that except for the increase in salaries of in-house counsel at pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, salaries at all levels declined in 2019, with an average drop of at least 10 percent, says Li. “ Many Chinese companies still consider in-house as a cost instead of an added value.”
DIVERSE RANGE OF CITIES
However, more choices are available to in-house counsel when it comes to location. Among the first-tier cities, “the demand for legal talent remains the steadiest in Shanghai, while Beijing, owing to its political status, offers more diverse legal positions. In the long run, both enterprises and human resources will possibly continue to move to the Greater Bay Area, with the most obvious increase in demand in Shenzhen,” says Yuen.
Li says that second-tier cities are coming up as well. “Hangzhou, which is a hub for the Internet industry, is becoming more and more popular and is full of entrepreneurial atmosphere. The salary is higher compared to other second-tier cities. In addition, there is Chengdu which has a cluster of technology companies. Many of the world’s top 500 companies have also opened offices here, attracting a lot of young people to come back home from first-tier cities. Wuhan, Nanjing and Xi’an are also noteworthy.”
To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.