27 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA ALB YOUNG LAWYER CAREER SURVEY management abilities that young lawyers need after they become partners,” says one lawyer. “The resources in a firm are mainly in the hands of senior lawyers or the managing director,” concludes another. Others suggest that “law firms should face up to the needs of young lawyers to seek independence and let them undertake business independently to some extent, instead of requiring all cases to be registered under the names of partners,” and that “law firms fail to provide young lawyers with a certain level of training or resource support in gaining business, resulting in an experience gap among lawyers within the firms, where there are many partners and paralegals but not a sufficient number of young lawyers who can practice independently.” One respondent offers further suggestions: “The new generation of young lawyers actually enjoys the advantages of having better market acumen and a wider range of information sources. Law firm leaders should actively recruit young lawyers into management to inject new ideas into law firm management and operations.” Perhaps because the incumbent management tends to control resources, 65 percent of respondents agree to a certain extent that “the current generation of law firm leaders has lost their leadership abilities.” Looking back on his career growth, Luo admits: “Most Chinese firms are partnerships that are rather traditional without any so-called training mechanism for young lawyers. It is more like masters teaching apprentices by throwing them in at the deep end so that the apprentices can figure out by themselves, summarize approaches, and be able to stand on their own in the future. Young lawyers who are unable to make it this way may become very disappointed with this profession.” However, in his observation, “the young lawyer training mechanisms established by some well-known and leading firms are actually quite good.” However, there is still a general lack of mechanisms in law firms to train business thinking, expression skills, and information search and gathering capabilities that young lawyers require to become partners. The aforementioned fifth-year lawyer also agrees that some firms that adopt the corporate structure have relatively robust training programs. “They have different requirements for lawyers of different seniority and provide corresponding support. The courses offered are also relatively comprehensive.” He points out, however, that such firms may not be for everyone. “At present, there are two types of firms in the legal market: established firms and start-up firms. In established firms, you have to ‘suffer,’ which may result in this sense of being squeezed during the process. Start-up firms may allow lawyers to have more space of their own. On the other hand, apart from providing more space and support, there will not be much training. These are two different models.” When it comes to prioritizing resources for young lawyers, he is rather pessimistic. “Most firms won’t be able to do that. There is a saying in the legal industry that ‘training apprentices will starve the masters.’ The only possibility for seniors to train young people is for intergenerational succession. For example, if a partner is retiring, he or she will pass his or her resources to you while continuing to benefit as a retired partner under the law firm system. Considering that the ‘post-1990s’ generation is not currently in the line of succession, I think it is difficult to ask firms to cultivate their abilities to win clients, etc.” “At the end of the day, the resources of a firm are in the hands of the most senior partners. I think it is against humanity for young lawyers to want to obtain resources from their seniors,” says Luo. “But seniors must also understand: when fortune is concentrated in one individual, people will leave; when fortune is being shared, people will gather. Therefore, seniors need to establish a relatively reasonable distribution mechanism to help young people who actually service the resources to obtain more benefits than they do now so that everyone can form a community of shared interests.” “At the same time, young lawyers will never develop themselves if they SURVEY RESULTS Compared to temporary salary, I place greater importance on the project quality, future career path, and professional development prospects that the law firm’s platform offers 相比暂时的薪资，我更为 看重律所平台提供的项 目质量、未来晋升路径与 职业发展前景 Agree strongly 很同意 Agree 同意 Neutral 一般 Disagree 不同意 Disagree strongly 很不同意 19.49% 16.95% 27.12% 17.8% 18.64% A positive leadership and team atmosphere are factors I value highly in my work 良好的领导及团队氛围 是我在工作当中较为看 重的因素 Agree strongly 很同意 Agree 同意 Neutral 一般 55.55% 35.05% 9.4%
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