中国律师事务所的合伙人数量正持续增多。不过，相较于往年在横向招聘市场表现出的勃勃野心，律所开始将更多目光投向内部。
2023年第一季度，中国律师事务所在扩充人才库存方面逐渐活跃起来。往年，春节后会出现一波横向招聘的热潮，今年市场呈现出的趋势却有所不同：不少律所公布了新合伙人及顾问的名单——不过大多数是以内部晋升形式产生的。
公布晋升名单的不乏一些头部律所。例如中伦晋升了43名非权益合伙人/顾问及26名权益合伙人/高级顾问、天元晋升31名合伙人、通商晋升14名合伙人及顾问、海问晋升13名合伙人及顾问、汉坤晋升9名合伙人等。
“今年的确时常有晋升的新闻跳出来，这也是最近两年的一个特点。” 众猎国际合伙人刘泽南说，她长期专注于律所和法务团队在大中华地区的招聘工作。“和往年相比，头部律所确实更倾向于敞开内部的晋升通道。”
这样的趋势在2022年已有所呈现。根据法律新媒体“众垒新律动”发布的《中国律师行业发展报告2022》，其调研的200余家中国律所过去一年共新增1204位合伙人，在明确知晓产生方式的合伙人中，63%以晋升方式产生。《报告》指出：“晋升逆转加盟成为律所获得新生力量的主要方式，中国律所开始进入内生力量的迸发期。”
看得见的好处
作为华南地区的领先律所，过去两年广信君达律师事务所在内部晋升上表现活跃，2022年共晋升33名合伙人，今年前三个月又再晋升7人。广信君达管理委员会主任闪涛律师告诉ALB，虽然律所对吸纳内外部新合伙人同样重视，但内部晋升有着诸多好处，“可以根据律师过去的综合能力与评价、个人素质、专业水平及发展潜能等对其有准确客观的认识”，从而选择更具“可信性与粘性”的人才。
此外，“从运作模式看，所内律师更了解律所基本情况、发展态势与运作方式，更快发挥合伙人作用；而从发展角度看，律所能提供晋升机会，也有利于提高全所凝聚力”，闪律师补充道。
作为一门“人和”的生意，几乎所有律所都在强调吸纳、培养、留住年轻人的重要性，内部晋升通道的扩宽可以视作此种努力的重要一环。“内部晋升的活跃证明我们的人才培养策略及晋升机制是有效的，对所内律师的发展与成长起到推动、激励作用，真正让青年律师在律所找到归属感、存在感、角色感和自我定位。”闪律师说。
此外，在闪律师看来，在律所普遍强调“软实力”建设的今天，内部晋升也有利于律所“文化上的深度融合、品牌的高度认同、凝聚力的粘合、传播力的强化”。在特定律所文化中成长起来的律师会自然成为此种文化最好的代言人，从而推动律所目标愿景的加速实现。
更理性的选择
在刘泽南看来，更多内部晋升确实会带来律所、律师双赢的局面，尤其在目前市场普遍保持谨慎乐观的情况下，以晋升方式增加合伙人“对律所维持成本收益、展开市场开拓很有帮助”，是种更理性的选择。
刘泽南解释道，至少在她观察，新晋合伙人及顾问的固定收入部分和高年级律师阶段相比并没有显著增幅，“这意味着律所的固定成本开销也没有显著增长”。
但与此同时，“通过内部晋升，律所会有更多合伙人呈现在市场上，具备更高的市场开拓优势，律所品牌也能在市场中实现更快传播。一方面，这可以应对存量业务竞争激烈的局面；另一方面，也能迎合新业务板块对更多合伙人参与市场开拓的需求”。
此外，更多的新晋合伙人也能有效提升客户的服务体验。“现在这些技术骨干坐在新位置上，他们会更全面深入地思考问题，同时仍旧为客户提供细致贴心的服务，客户体验感的提升也有助于律所维持现有市场份额，争取潜在业务。”
最后，在刘泽南看来，扩宽晋升通道也是律所应对经济周期的务实之举。“过去，人才在晋升节点面临多种就业形式选择，可供律所遴选的优秀人才基数具有不确定性，律所需要增加遴选人才的激励成本；现今，律所通过内部晋升的方式，一方面对内部优秀人才优先行使选择权；另一方面，晋升后的人群会被持续考察3-5年，人才遴选时间节点的延后，帮助律所在经济不确定环境下应对自身发展。”刘泽南说。
更清晰的策略
律所晋升通道的拓宽是否会挤压外部招聘名额？刘泽南指出多少会有些影响，但并不尽然。“由于新合伙人及顾问的固定收入没有大幅增长，律所因此保持了外部招聘的经济实力。” 她说。
此外，在她看来，如今越来越多中国律所有了更为清晰的人才策略，为内部晋升、外部招聘设定的目标也不相同。尤其头部律所，对于自身已经具备优势的传统领域，招聘会非常谨慎，外部人才吸纳“更集中在希望开拓的市场新领域，或者能够带来新客户群体的合伙人”。
不过，晋升通道的拓宽确实为律所管理能力带来了更大考验，尤其对律所的人力资源管理提出了更高要求。
“HR势必要在人才评价方面做很多工作。”刘泽南说，“首先，晋升涉及人才遴选，律所前期的考评标准要更系统化；第二，律师成为合伙人及顾问后要进行新的培训，尤其对市场拓展能力的培训，这方面的平台服务也要跟上；第三，有人晋升就会有人落选，也要花心思去维系这部分人才，有助于律所打通离职人员在各自领域的资源，拓展律所品牌形象。”
对此广信君达的闪涛律师颇有共识。他坦言，内部晋升实际上让律所对人才的考察标准更丰富了。“不仅考察律师过去的品行、业绩，还要考察对律所品牌建设、公益建设、公共事务的贡献，以及所内同事的认同，更会着重考察未来发展的潜力——包括综合素质，以形成事务所管理型人才的梯队建设。在内部晋升上，更需原则性与灵活性兼顾、短期与长期因素兼顾，更多地运用综合性指标，而非某个单一的标准去考察。”
对于和律所密切合作的外部猎头，刘泽南坦言，未来他们的招聘服务“也要更主动一些，需要猎头和律所有更频繁的互动，在更早期参与律所需求分析，提供更为灵活的招聘策略服务”。
LOOKING INWARDS
Chinese firms today know they need to bulk up their ranks to compete nationally, and even internationally. But instead of hiring aggressively as before, they have shown a greater keenness to promote from within.
In the first quarter of 2023, Chinese firms gradually expanded their talent pools. There would be a wave of lateral hires after the Spring Festival in previous years. However, the market has shown a different trend this year: While many firms have announced their new partners and of counsels, most of them are promoted from within.
The firms that have announced promotions include some leading out-fits. For example, Zhong Lun Law Firm promoted 43 non-equity partners/of counsel and 26 equity partners/senior of counsel, Tian Yuan Law Firm announced 31 new partners, Commerce & Finance Law Offices welcomed 14 partners and of counsels, and Haiwen & Partners and Han Kun Law Offices promoted 13 partners and of counsels and nine partners, respectively.
“News of promotions have frequently made headlines this year, which has been a trend over the past two years,” says Liu Zenan, partner of recruitment company Connected-R International (CRI), who has long focused on recruitment for law firms and in-house teams in Greater China. “Compared to previous years, leading firms are indeed more inclined to widen internal promotion paths.”
This trend could already be discerned in 2022. According to the Chinese Legal Industry Development Report 2022 released by local legal media, more than 200 Chinese firms surveyed in the report added 1,204 partners in 2022. Among those whose promotion path is clearly known, 63 percent were promoted internally.
“Promotion has overtaken new hires as the main source for firms to gain new strength, and Chinese firms have entered the era where internal talents play a more crucial role,” says the report.
VISIBLE BENEFITS
As a leading firm in South China, ETR Law Firm has been actively promoting its lawyers over the past two years, with 33 partners promoted in 2022 and another seven promoted in the first quarter of this year. Shan Tao, director of its management committee, tells ALB that although the firm attaches equal importance to welcoming new partners externally and internally, internal promotion can bring many benefits. “We can have an accurate and objective understanding of a lawyer based on his/her past comprehensive abilities and evaluation, individual qualities, professional competency and growth potential,” so as to select talents with more “credibility and stickiness.”
In addition, “from the operational perspective, lawyers who are already with the firm have a better understanding of the firm’s basic situations, development strategy and operational model, and can play the role of partners more swiftly. From the development perspective, offering promotion opportunities is also conducive to improving cohesion of the entire firm,” adds Shan.
As a “people business”, almost all firms emphasise the importance of attracting, training and retaining young people. The expansion of internal promotion paths can be seen as an important aspect of such efforts. “Active internal promotion proves that our talent training strategy and promotion mechanism are effective, which facilitates and stimulates the development and growth of lawyers in the firm, truly enabling young lawyers to find their sense of belonging and existence, as well as their role and self-positioning, in the firm,” says Shan.
Moreover, in Shan’s opinion, with most firms doubling down on “soft power” these days, internal promotion is also conducive to “deepening cultural integration, generating high brand recognition, and promoting cohesion.” Lawyers who grow up in a particular law firm culture naturally become the best ambassadors for that culture, accelerating the realisation of the firm’s goals and vision.
RATIONAL CHOICE
According to Liu of CRI, more internal promotions are indeed a win-win for both firms and lawyers. Especially in the current climate where the market is generally cautiously optimistic, increasing the number of partners through promotion is a more rational choice and “helps firms maintain cost effectiveness and expand the market more aggressively.”
Liu explains that, as far as her observation goes, the fixed income of new partners and of counsels has not significantly increased compared to senior associates, “which means that the fixed cost of law firms has not significantly increased either.”
However, “through internal promotion, a firm will have more partners on the market, thereby enjoying greater market development advantages and faster recognition of its brand on the market. On the one hand, this can address the fierce competition for existing businesses. On the other hand, it can also meet the demand of new practice areas for more partners to participate in business development.”
In addition, more new partners can also effectively improve clients’ service experience. “Now that these skilled lawyers are taking on new positions, they will think about matters more comprehensively and deeply, while continuing to provide clients with meticulous and thoughtful services. Improving client experience will also help a firm maintain its existing market share and compete for potential business.”
Finally, Liu believes that expanding promotion paths is also a pragmatic move for firms to ride the economic cycle. “In the past, talents could have multiple employment options upon promotion. Nowadays, through internal promotion, firms enjoy the advantage of choosing internal top talents before others. Further, as promoted partners will be continuously reviewed for three to five years, the postponement in talent selection timing helps firms cope with their development amid economic uncertainty,” says Liu.
CLEARER STRATEGY
Will widening a firm’s promotion path eliminate external recruitment opportunities? Liu believes there would be some limited impact. “Since the fixed income of new partners and of counsels has not increased significantly, firms have maintained the financial ammunition to recruit externally.”
Liu also points out that more and more Chinese firms now have clearer talent strategies, with different objectives for internal promotion and external recruitment. In particular, leading firms are very cautious about recruiting in traditional practice areas where they already have advantages, and external recruitment “focuses more on new areas of the market the firms want to explore, or on partners who can bring in new clientele.”
However, widened promotion paths have indeed brought greater challenges to the management capabilities of firms, raising the bar on their human resources management in particular.
“HR must do a lot of work in talent evaluation,” says Liu. “First, promotion involves selection, as a result of which the appraisal criteria of law firms must be more systematic. Second, after becoming partners or of counsels, lawyers should undergo new training, especially market development training. This means platform services in this aspect should also keep pace. Third, the promotion of some means that more are not selected. Firms must take pains to communicate with the latter group. Doing so helps them maintain connections with potential departing employees and gain access to their resources of respective fields.”
Shan shares this view. He says that internal promotion has actually diversified the firm’s talent appraisal criteria. “We review not only the past conduct and performance of lawyers, but also their contributions to brand building, public welfare undertakings and public affairs of the firm, as well as the recognition of colleagues within the firm. In terms of internal promotion, it is even more important to be both principled and flexible, consider both short-term and long-term factors, and make more use of comprehensive indicators rather than a single criterion.”
For external recruiters who work closely with firms, Liu admits that in the future, their recruitment services “also need to be more proactive, which requires recruiters to have more frequent interactions with firms, participate in law firm demand analysis at an earlier stage, and provide more flexible recruitment strategy services.”