Singapore – The legal sector here is still hot as legal professionals remain in demand.

Manager of Robert Walters legal specialist recruitment division, Christina Ng said some of the legal sectors that are still hiring include areas such as anti-competition, dispute resolution, intellectual property, commercial/corporate and bankruptcy. 

Such expansion is the result of changes in the environment, as legal issues have become paramount to renegotiating contracts, settling disputes, and looking at creative structuring of legal agreements. These changes have created in-house positions as well as volume hires for external practice.

With the introduction of the Qualifying Foreign Law Practice Scheme (QFLP), firms holding such licenses will be able to practice within the areas of corporate finance and intellectual property. Before that, the government only allowed foreign legal firms to practice only when they are committed to a Joint Law Venture with a local practice.

This  QFLP scheme will benefit Singaporean lawyers as foreign law firms are now allowed to practice in their own right within Singapore legal jurisdiction so long as they have qualified lawyers who are called to the Singapore bar. “However, with the new changes proposed in parliament, it is expected that we will see more competition from foreign lawyers as well," says Ng.

Furthermore, since the implementation of QFLP, some legally trained professionals have returned to practice. Key people have also been brought on board through internal transfers or external hires by firms that have received QFLP status.

Ng says she has also witnessed an increasing interest from lawyers abroad who are looking to establish their careers in Asia. This will not only add on to the number of practising professionals but also increase international exposure and competition.