It won’t recover. Firstly if you look at the news, there’s very few listings in Singapore, and a lot of companies are delisting. I won’t mention names - but a couple of the Corp finance team in some law firms have closed. Secondly, on the dispute resolution front, a lot of companies are opting for arbitration/ mediation to resolve conflicts. Gone are the days of a steady stream of high stakes, publicly visible litigation in the courts.

Thirdly, on the demand side, the omnibus insolvency legislation is an attempt to make Singapore a well sought after forum for insolvency proceedings. However, only time will tell the success of this. Same for the SICC.

Fourthly, there are a lot of international firms (with international lawyers) competing for work in the corporate space (everything except litigation). These are firms with good branding and have good retainers with international companies. It is hard for local firms to ever compete on this front.

Fifthly, law schools produce hundreds of graduates every year. There are not enough law firms to absorb these graduates if people do not leave the industry. Recent measures are aiming to solve the attrition of young lawyers. These will further compound the problem because if people do not leave the industry, how are new graduates going in to the law firms?

Sixthly, the hours in a law firm is very long. This is because most law firms operate on a lean concept. This means that whenever there is a spike in legal work, the associates in that team have to work very hard. Most leave once they are burned out. Law firms then get in newly qualified associates who are much cheaper and have greater enthusiasm. This contribute to more negative publicity and create a lot of competition at the junior level, leading to a lot of politics. When that happens, it drives up demand for associates but supply stays fairly constant because of the attrition. More people burn out and more junior asssociates join where they have large shoes to fill because the learning curve is very steep. When more people leave, there seems to be a shortage and then people are looking at increasing supply. The demand and supply at every point does not really match leading to more structural issues.