PRC firms are hungry for international talent

The recent lateral hires from international firms by leading domestic outfits Allbright Law Offices, Jun He Law Offices, King & Wood, Fangda Partners and Global Law Office (it welcomed two new partners this March from the Beijing offices of Paul Hastings and Shearman & Sterling) have raised eyebrows and triggered talk of the shifting PRC legal market.

As domestic firms become more sophisticated to keep up with the rapid pace of development in the Chinese market, and clients eschew the high fees and costs of international firms, the former are looking to improve their offering and capture a greater portion of any middle ground that exists between them and the internationals. A key strategy is to broaden their services by bringing both strong local and international capabilities to the table, an attractive platform for clients.

The recent hiring trend has been ignited by the reality that domestic firms are increasingly taking the leading roles in cross-border transactions and in need of talent that has significant international deal exposure, experience and dealings with foreign clients. There is ample room for growth for domestic firms (which are blessed with greater market access than international rivals), and now they have realised the edge they can acquire by improving their management and partner quality. In the coming months, there will be two interesting developments to watch out for in the China legal space: Which PRC firm will be the next to poach an international bigwig and how the foreign firms will react to this newfound hunger by local players for their talent. – CM

This excerpt appears courtesy of the IFLR 1000. Please visit www.iflr1000.com