Singapore is growing in importance as a legal services hub for the region and beyond. The growing demand for lawyers extends beyond the legal profession and includes in-house counsels in local and foreign firms as well as multinational corporations too.

Some areas of growth are commercial litigation, corporate work (banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital market) and intellectual property. The booming property market and the upcoming Integrated Resorts (IR) will boost construction practices such as advisory and drafting work, and advice on claims and litigation if disputes arise.

Another growth area is competition law as Singapore’s Competition Act was only passed in October 2004 and is being implemented in phases. More arbitration work is also expected as Singapore is becoming a venue of choice for resolving commercial and industrial disputes.

Singapore law firms are growing in staff strength as they keep pace with the rising demand for legal services. Singapore's Big Four firms (Allen & Gledhill, WongPartnership, Rajah & Tann, Drew & Napier) have about 200 to 285 lawyers each.

The employment outlook for 2008 is positive with a high demand for lawyers. Major law firms are bullish about the year ahead and growth is expected in various major areas of practice, including corporate work, commercial litigation, real estate and intellectual property work. Some local law firms expect to continue to grow their regional practices and hire more foreign lawyers in 2008.

Other information
International Bar Association Conference
The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947 and has a membership of 30,000 individual lawyers and more than 195 bar associations and law societies spanning all continents.

The International Bar Association’s Annual Conference will be held in Singapore from 14-19 October 2007. For more details, please refer to the website: http://www.ibanet.org/Conferences/singapore2007/