The market is quite fragmented with some firms looking to hire with specific criteria and higher scrutiny for quality. There are still many US firms still cutting salary/work hours and telling associates that their firms are facing a challenging time. The legal market is too crowded and only select firms have a pipeline of business to survive. Many law firms simply do not have enough work to keep everyone busy and this has gone on for a year with associates sitting at their desk drafting marketing materials, writing legal commentary, chatting on MSN or simply watching the stock market.

The PRC legal market is simply too crowded for International firms. We are seeing PRC firms with lower billing rates upgrading their quality significantly over the past 2 years by absorbing associates from international firms. Why would a client pay for a transaction done by the same people?

However, just like any business, there are those who are looking to exit and those trying to enter because China is still the growth story at present with a shining outlook for the next two decades.

Every firm is looking to bolster their platform with Partners who command a portable book of business.

BTW, Simmons has also sent back partners in Shanghai also but that was months ago. Maybe they are planning to thin their resources out in Asia since quite a few teams have defected from them over the years rendering them a training ground for future new office openings.