In 2024, companies cut back on spending as sluggish economic conditions and vague public policy directions had an adverse impact on investments, mergers and acquisitions and other business activities. This extended to hiring, with companies instituting hiring freezes or redundancies.

“As a result, legal professionals were cautious about any job moves this year, with many of them looking deliberately into the stability of prospective companies they may be looking to join,” observes Suchanasa Nantanapramoth, Senior Principal Consultant at Robert Walters Thailand.

She also points to a noticeable rise in Chinese investments, specifically for emerging technologies in the automotive, semiconductor and retail industries.

Read on to find out more about Suchanasa’s expectations of the labour market and hiring trends for Thailand’s Legal professionals in 2024.

Less replacement hires, more contract positions

Suchanasa foresees that companies will need to keep wrestling with cost pressures in the near future, making talent retention a top focus in the year ahead. When a position becomes vacant, companies will turn to existing employees instead, providing them with the training in leadership, soft skills or technical skills they need to take on additional responsibilities. This trend will be particularly pronounced among middle management positions.

Among senior-level positions, Suchanasa has noticed a growing inclination towards interim hiring.

“In some cases, short-term vacancies arise from employees going on international assignments or maternity leave. Fixed-term contracts have become an increasingly common solution as it lets companies access experienced talent without high hiring costs,” she explains.

Lastly, Chinese investors are expected to keep up their investments into select industries in the Thai market. 

More opportunities for middle management lawyers

“2025 will be a prime year for middle management lawyers with 7 – 15 years of post-qualification experience,” states Suchanasa. “These candidates are highly coveted because businesses can trust them to deliver good work, and salaries at this level of seniority are still affordable.”

As such, demand will be particularly high for senior associates across various specialisations like capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and litigation. The market is also on the lookout for legal managers or legal counsels, who companies will rely on to manage major legal tasks like contract reviews, commercial negotiations and corporate law. Among multinational and listed companies, there will be heightened demand for compliance managers who can help ensure good governance.

“Companies are less interested in conservative lawyers who adhere strictly to what is written in the book. Furthermore, we’re seeing department heads from other functions being involved in the interview process for legal talent,” Suchanasa reveals. “The market is truly after commercially-minded lawyers who can collaborate well with other teams and support the business in its growth.”

As such, candidates with strong skills in business partnering, collaboration, negotiation and persuasion have an added advantage. In addition to the basic requirement of fluency in English and Thai, companies also seek out excellent communication skills.

Provide growth opportunities and hiring based on skills

While candidates in the market are still open to exploring new job opportunities, they proceed with great caution, taking a more holistic view that goes beyond the usual considerations of monetary compensation and job scope. Now, factors such as work location, hours, flexible arrangements, and whether the company provides an innovative environment, are also important.

Specifically, Suchanasa hears the most requests for flexible work hours to avoid the Bangkok traffic, generous leave entitlements and health insurance coverage, and hybrid work arrangements – ideally with half the week spent working from home.

With talent retention being a key focus for businesses in 2025, Suchanasa advises providing a range of exciting career development opportunities. This could include international assignments, new job scopes, transfers to other departments, or involvement in ad-hoc projects. These stints keep employees engaged and connected to business objectives, while raising retention as they stay on to the end of assigned projects.

When recruiting new talent, hiring teams may benefit from adopting a skill-based approach over only taking on candidates with direct experience. “These “plug and play” candidates may be able to contribute soon after coming onboard, but they may quickly come to find their work repetitive,” Suchanasa says. “By loosening restrictions on educational background and industry experience, companies can tap into a much larger talent pool, especially as legal professionals have transferable skillsets that apply across industries.”

Highest increments for promotions and counteroffers

Job movers can look forward to increments between 10 – 20%, though talent with in-demand expertise in areas like PDPA or capital markets may receive larger increments.

Candidates staying with their current organisation can expect to see increments that fall between 3 – 7%. Meanwhile, internal promotions and counteroffers could come with pay bumps between 20 – 30%.

Find out more

Request access to our 2024 Salary Survey to benchmark salaries and to find out more about key hiring trends in the Legal industry in Thailand.