It’s five degrees below zero in New York City but the cold winter wind in the Big Apple is of no deterrence to legal job seekers and employers alike. Some 2,000 law students from 21 law schools line up like concert ticket buyers, vying for a chance to speak to over 200 prospective employers. Flying 7,000 miles away from home, Chinese domestic firm representatives have come to hunt for fresh talents in the US: Han Kun, Fangda and Broad & Bright, for example, are attending the largest law graduate employment event – The New York University (NYU) Public Interest Legal Career Fair.

An increasing number of domestic firms are taking advantage of this new recruitment channel. “As China ventures abroad, there will continue to be more cross-border transactions that will also become increasingly complex. Therefore it is significant for firms to be equipped with lawyers who understand foreign cultures and jurisdictions so as to provide the sophisticated legal advice that is required and also to seize a broader spectrum of clientele,” said Chen Dafei, partner and recruitment manager at Han Kun Law Offices.

Having international proficiency is a pre-requisite at Han Kun, whose partners endeavour to build an innovative new generation law firm with its employee requirements. “We are particularly keen on hiring Chinese nationals who have graduated from local universities and have also studied law in universities overseas.”

Upholding its belief in organic growth, Han Kun remains fastidious about its candidates and, according to Chen, the job fair works best for them, offering the firm what he describes as “hard and soft elements” that a phone interview cannot. “Different employers appreciate different qualities in their subordinates. The career fair is a very straightforward method for you to build a first impression and ‘feel’ a personality,” he said.

While the firm still uses traditional headhunting services but mainly for seeking partner-level lawyers with international expertise, who are scarce and therefore worth the expensive costs. “To date, the time frame of the development of the Chinese legal environment is still considered short, therefore, partner-level lawyers with a long period of international experience are very limited and so paying high fees for headhunters to search on our behalf is a reasonable outlay,” he said.  The legal fair on the other hand, Chen adds, is a large, inexpensive platform that offers a platform of entry-level potential candidates.

Making its very first formal attendance at a legal career fair in the US, Han Kun hopes to staff its two new branches – Shanghai and Shenzhen – with ten new internationally qualified partners and associates to help build a global clientele this year.

Broad & Bright and Fangda Partners have been attending the event for some time. Fangda attends these fairs specifically to target Chinese students who have gone to universities in New York to study for their LLM. Every year, students are recruited to join the firm as associates. “Having international expertise has become increasingly important over the years, especially now if firms are trying to expand globally and attract more MNCs in China,” said Gordon Gao, partner at Fangda. 

On the recommendation of its own partners who have graduated from US universities and are familiar with the concept, Broad & Bright has also attended the job fair twice before. The firm didn’t however, manage to hire any lawyers from the previous attempts due to strong competition and lack of interest from undergrads.

“In the short term, candidates were always tempted to join international firms because the initial salary package is more attractive when compared to a Chinese firm,” said Yuan Changchun, partner at Broad & Bright.

But the tide has turned since the GFC. Even at the tail-end of the financial crisis, many international firms are still sitting on headcount freezes and cutbacks on expansion plans and candidates are left with far fewer options. “In the past, candidates had a lot more options. But now that international law firms are hiring less, domestic firms have more potential candidates,” Yuan says.

While in the past, domestic firms have struggled to successfully hire lawyers from these fairs, firms are very optimistic this year. Their optimism not only stems from fewer options for graduates, but also from candidates’ abrupt change in attitude regarding their prospects. “After witnessing China’s role in the global economy over the past 12 months, these graduates now realise the economic potential of the country. China is a massive market and these students are seeing clearer long-term plans,” said Chen. “They know that with a LLM, they have a very low competitive edge in a US firm because they can only work on China-related deals but in a domestic firm, they will gain more experience working in a wide variety of practices and also receive more recognition for their work.”

Competition is intensifying. Each year, more domestic firms with imminent needs participate in these international jobs fairs. “Competition is strong because the workload in the legal services sector is increasing very rapidly, domestic lawyers with international experience are scarce and everyone wants a piece of the very limited pool of talents,” said Chen.

Even though these talents are highly sought after, salary packages for lawyers hired from job fairs are no different to those hired locally. “An associate’s salary is ultimately based on his/her experience and qualification. If their capabilities are similar to another associate hired locally, there will be no salary difference otherwise it could be seen as unfair and cause some conflicts,” explained Yuan.

It seems international job fairs will soon become the chosen door for many domestic firms especially since the initial outlay is minimal. “You submit your firm’s interest to the respective host via email. The space allocated to you only costs around US$500 and the event takes about a day’s shift. You get to pre-screen candidates’ resumes and select whom you want to speak to and then each candidate gets about 20 minutes interview time,” said Han Kun’s Chen. “It’s a long and tedious process but you get to meet so many of them. What you end up paying for these fairs is miniscule when compared to what good lawyers can generate for your firm.”