International law firms in Hong Kong are ramping up their recruitment of Mandarin speakers in a bid to boost relationships with mainland China clients, creating fierce job competition for foreign lawyers in the region.
A Legal Week survey of international firms operating in Hong Kong found every firm responding to the survey bar one had increased the number of Mandarin-speaking lawyers in their Hong Kong offices since 2011. The increase took the average percentage of Mandarin speakers employed by the 16 responding law firms to 60% of their total Hong Kong lawyer count.
