Fresh law grads feeling squeeze of weak economy and competition

SINGAPORE — Two years after a warning was issued that fresh law graduates could find that jobs are harder to come by, the scenario appears to be unravelling on the ground, compounded by the weak market conditions.

Firms have taken in a greater number of trainees, partially because the number of overseas graduates returning to Singapore to look for work has climbed, but the proportion of trainees retained has slid compared with previous years.

Those who have managed to clinch jobs say salary terms were poorer, continuing a trend reported among their seniors who graduated in 2014, according to the latest Joint Graduate Employment Survey released in March.

Due to the economic slowdown, several big- and mid-sized firms have reportedly reduced starting salaries by about S$500 since May last year.

Figures from the Law Ministry show that the annual number of returning law graduates had increased almost 50 per cent to 310 last year, up from around 210 in 2011. Taken together, the number of undergraduate law degrees awarded by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU) has hovered between 330 and 370 over the past five academic years.

Law Minister K Shanmugam had flagged in 2014 that a spike in Singaporeans studying to be lawyers overseas could lead to an oversupply, and warned those aspiring to the profession to temper career and salary expectations.

Those who did not get a place this year said supervisors had tried to “manage expectations at the outset”.

“We were told on the first day that the retention rate would be poor,” said a legal trainee who wanted to be known only as Shelley, who did not secure a job in the mid-sized firm he trained at.

Some who were retained in the firm — four out of eight who were offered training contracts — had to settle for less attractive offers, he said.

“Only those who were really needed were kept and, even then, at a lower salary and on a tentative basis ... The issue is that new work is drying up. The outlook for the rest of 2016 doesn’t look good,” Shelley added.

Another graduate who wanted to remain anonymous said the firm she trained at retained one-third (six out of 18) of the trainees. Retention at the firm, which has about 60 lawyers, was “much lower than previous years”, she said.

Competition will only intensify in coming years, because the “number who are giving it another shot will just keep increasing”, felt Mr Nicklaus Yap, who graduated from the NUS Faculty of Law. He added: “The ‘spectre’ of retention has become more real than in previous years because many senior lawyers have openly talked about the increased competition for positions in law firms and that young lawyers have to fight to remain competitive.”

Law firms that responded to TODAY’s queries acknowledged the need to be more “cautious” in hiring because of economic uncertainties.

TSMP Law Corporation joint managing director Stefanie Yuen Thio said her firm’s retention continues to be “high” even though the economic slowdown has “changed our hiring mindset a little”.

Another firm, Dentons Rodyk, said it had managed to retain more than three-quarters of its trainees despite offering a “record number” of 24 training contracts this year.

Several firms, including three of the Big Four — Allen & Gledhill, Rajah & Tann Asia, and WongPartnership — declined to comment.

While some trainees who were not retained said they are open to “alternative career paths”, such as in the civil service, legal start-ups and non-governmental organisations, most are still courting a career within the industry.

Said a graduate from SMU School of Law: “This has been my plan all along and it’s a bit hard to see beyond that, though the market is as bad as it is. Also, I feel it’d be a waste of my training not to stay in law at least for a while.”