Here we sit in Hong Kong, midway through our semiannual review and survey of the major law firm market here. While we normally have someone on the ground here in Hong Kong, only twice a year are both authors of this column in town gathering and compiling the latest and greatest information about who is hiring, who is firing, and what people expect for the future. Given the state of the current global economy and most U.S. legal hiring markets, we were somewhat anxious about what we might find as a result of this survey. We know that our business has seen positive trends this year in Asia, but a valid survey needs to include data not only on our business, but the overall hiring picture for our clients. We are pleased to be able to report, preliminarily, that things look good. While we have detected a note of caution among some of our clients, the outlook on the whole is positive. Most firms remain busy, even if not at as frenetic a pace as in 2007.
While we normally have someone on the ground here in Hong Kong, only twice a year are both authors of this column in town gathering and compiling the latest and greatest information about who is hiring, who is firing, and what people expect for the future. 
