Asia Pacific Legal Market Summary March 2026

(As excerpted from our monthly Associate Newsletter - Asia Pacific)

Associate Newsletter – Asia Pacific is a monthly resource that reports current legal market news, trends, partner moves and active opportunities in the Asia Pacific legal markets.

Legal Market Summary

HONG KONG

The Hong Kong legal market remains busy, with strong hiring activity across banking & finance, corporate M&A, IPO, funds and arbitration sectors. Firms are hiring at all levels sand are keen to attract overseas candidates from london, the US, and the Australia, while continuing to consider strong local talents. Asian language skills are valued, though some roles require only native-level English.

CHINA

The Mainland China legal market is ready, with ongoing demand across corporate M&A, IPO, and investigation sector. Firms are hiring cautiously and selectively, with a strong preference for PRC citizens, reflecting regulatory requirements and a continued emphasis on local expertise and market familiarity.

SINGAPORE

The Singapore legal market remains busy, with firms continuing to invest in their local office, driving increased hiring activity. Recruitment has largely followed partner moves, with active demand across projects, M&A, finance and funds space. Junior to mid-level lawyers is particularly sought after, with strong preference for Singaporean candidates whether locally based or overseas.

SINGAPORE - Interim Legal

The regulatory and compliance landscape has been particularly busy with organisations looking to bring contractors on board as additional support to navigate requirements from regulators. Lawyers with experience in the ABC, product compliance, and trade compliance space are highly sought after.

SOUTH KOREA

As in Japan, the continued depreciation of the Korean won has resulted in strong inbound M&A activity, including from private equity sponsors, keeping top Korean firms particularly busy. While several of the large domestic firms remain opportunistically interested in foreign‑qualified M&A and finance lawyers with top international firm training, international firms in Seoul have generally not been hiring recently.

JAPAN

Tokyo remains a challenging market, with candidate interest continuing to outpace the number of associate roles available, although several notable openings exist for lawyers with the right mix of experience and credentials. Japanese language capability remains a gating requirement for many, though certainly not all, positions. Q1 has also seen what may be the highest number of partner moves in Tokyo in recent memory, with the most prominent development being Mayer Brown’s addition of multi‑partner teams from both Milbank (project finance) and the Shearman side of A&O Shearman (capital markets and investigations) in March, effectively doubling the firm’s Tokyo headcount within a week. In other news, a multi‑partner energy team moved from Pillsbury to Sidley Austin, Pillsbury added an IP litigation partner, and a shipping finance partner transitioned from Norton Rose to Watson Farley. While it may take time for these moves to translate into meaningful associate hiring—particularly against the backdrop of ongoing global uncertainty — there is potential for increased activity as teams begin to settle and build. And it’s still early in the year – the wave of movement may not be over!

AUSTRALIA

Since the year began we have seen a surge in demand for competition associates and senior associates from every major law firm due to Australia’s new merger reforms taking hold, which has created significantly more work for competition teams. Simultaneously and due to a steady rebound in deal flow activity across the Australian market, transactional lawyers with experience in banking & finance (particularly those with leverage & acquisition finance experience), corporate/M&A and investment funds are also in high demand.

 Partner Moves

Partner moves are obtained from both public sources and Major, Lindsey & Africa market intelligence. The list is not intended to represent Major, Lindsey & Africa as the consultancy involved in the moves, although some moves may have been brokered by Major, Lindsey & Africa.