DEMAND FOR QUALIFIED legal staff is surging as the economy and real estate sector continue to boom. Top international law firms, multinationals, investment banks and local companies are all looking to fill positions ranging from paralegal to senior partner and in-house legal counsel.
Clifford Chance, the world's largest commercial law firm, which in 2005 advised on worldwide deals valued at US$490 billion, is leading the way.
It plans to double the number of lawyers in its mainland offices from 45 to 90, and hire about 100 support staff, including secretaries, IT professionals and accountants.
The London-based firm, which has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, is planning for a significant increase in business. It will expand its core activities in banking, finance, capital markets and litigation, and will focus more on intellectual property rights and real estate cases.
The soaring number of property deals in Beijing and other mainland cities means that specialist real estate lawyers will be kept busy with contract and dispute-related work.
The Legal Mirror newspaper reported that top mainland-trained real estate lawyers were pulling in average salaries of 300,000 yuan a year. Overseas-trained lawyers were also getting increasingly involved in this area.