Many lawyers are only interested in working with the biggest and best firms following hard-earned degrees, understandably so. But some of the mid-tier firms often discounted by the brightest graduates are moving up and taking on interesting and lucrative new areas, according to some of the biggest legal recruitment firms. The way to the top may also be to choose a firm which is on the way up rather than one that is already at its peak.

Asia is also very much a ‘relationship based’ jurisdiction – so without the inside knowledge of the people and culture, candidates may not be able to judge a potential firm in the way they otherwise would. “Reputations precede people,” said Helen Howard, consultant at Taylor Root, Singapore.

That fact can cause candidates to reject firms, particularly mid-tier firms, they are either unfamiliar with or which have a (perhaps undeserved) reputation for being particularly demanding and inflexible towards employees. “A large part of our job is emphasising and reminding people what’s good about that particular firm,” said Katherine Fan, consultant with Hughes-Castell based in Hong Kong.

The same situation may apply to firms which are opening up new practice areas in Asia, for example Latham & Watkins, a firm which just opened a new litigation practice in Hong Kong, Fan said. She added that the most important influencing factor for candidates will be the partner chosen to head the new practice group, as well as the firm’s culture in these cases. In a small legal market such as Hong Kong, where many of the big firms already have international reputations, candidates tend to know everything from which partners are good to work with to which ones have the best culture and lifestyle and what they can expect, Fan said.

In Singapore, there are a number of ‘mid-tier’ firms doing great work, but do not have the correspondingly strong reputation, according to consultants from ATR Associates and Robert Walters. “A number of second-tier firms have moved up on deals during the recession and taken a more active role,” Jasmine Sim, consultant, legal division, Robert Walters, Singapore, said. It is a matter of candidates realising that the firm has a different reputation right now, is taking on different roles, and might even be as profitable or more profitable in certain areas than some of the magic circle firms, Sim said.

Watson Farley Williams is one firm Sim says is doing good work at the moment. She also says candidates should be willing to look at the deals the firm has done over the preceding year before passing judgment on a role offered. Fan also said that there can be a good variety of work offered by firms considered ‘mid-tier’. One other consultant who did not wish to be named mentioned that Holman Fenwick is also a firm which is performing considerably better than in its home jurisdiction, the UK.