In light of the New Year approaching and over the past 3 months, nearly every major recruitment firm agreed that as law firm bonuses are paid around this time, they expected to see hiring activity increase significantly. The amount of bonuses has also encouraged a number of lawyers to abandon their current employer, due to the huge disparity in the size of bonuses offered by the big banks, according to Ben Cooper, vice president, Asia-Pacific, CML.

Rob Green, a director with CML Asia-Pacific, also says the most common question asked by candidates he approaches is whether the new firm will pay out their expected bonus, indicating it’s a top priority for jobseekers. And Chrys Leong, a consultant with Hudson Legal in Singapore, says in particular, an increase in banking & finance vacancies will be a result of people having vacated their roles around now, rather than as a result of retrenched positions arising from the downturn.

In Singapore – as Chinese New Year is closer to Christmas – a number of firms have waited until now to announce bonuses rather than earlier, according to Ash Raivadera, a founding consultant with ATR & Associates. “We definitely expect more candidates who are interested in moving after the Chinese New Year period and when bonuses have been paid,” he says. Raivadera also says that lawyers in private practice won’t want to wait too long. “They won’t want to commit to another practicing certificate or get too far into the year to have to wait out another year-end bonus.”

In an effort to stall a mass exodus of legal talent in Hong Kong, a number of banks are putting lawyers into strict grades. “This ensures that comparatively small bonus pools are being allocated to the strongest performers and the best lawyers are retained,” says Cooper. The latest reports to come from recruitment firms indicate that most can expect to receive a bonus of between 4-7%.