Recruiting in China

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Paul Hastings is first foreign law firm to take part in project that offers a unique mix of pro bono and branding efforts

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker is putting its stamp on China. Literally.

The firm is paying at least $40,000 toward the construction of a facility in China's remote Longqui village that will soon bear its name: the Paul Hastings Hope Elementary School.

"We're thinking this will be the first of many," said Mitchell Dudek, the head of the firm's Shanghai office. "Over time, there will be many Paul Hastings schools in China."

Paul Hastings is the first foreign law firm to participate in Project Hope, a public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation to build schools in poor, rural communities. Getting involved in the project was a way for the Los Angeles-based firm to contribute in a country that presents some obstacles to traditional pro bono work.

"We're becoming a participant in that economy," said Chairman Seth Zachary. "It's an important part of our strategy to give something back, to be a participant on both ends."

It's also a unique branding opportunity.

"It certainly helps recruiting because it shows us to be a socially active foreign investor," Dudek said. "It's one more thing that shows how we try to reinvest and help the communities we're in."

It's common for law firms to get involved with more innovative community projects in foreign countries since it's often hard to find pro bono opportunities abroad, said Esther Lardent, the president of the Pro Bono Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. There isn't always cultural and political acceptance of pro bono representation, and in countries like China, lawyers licensed to practice at international firms cannot handle cases in local courts.

While pro bono opportunities are slowly expanding, they remain scarce enough that the institute does not count foreign hours towards firms' tallies in its Pro Bono Challenge.

But that doesn't mean good works go unnoticed. "The Chinese government expects foreign firms licensed to operate in China to be good citizens," noted Hildebrandt International's Michael Short.

While law firms should perhaps be motivated by altruism, and not just money, Lardent said the Pro Bono Institute is a big believer in mixed messages.

"If you're opening an office in a new country, then showing you're not just there to help the very tiny percentage of rich companies is very good marketing for the firm," she said. "And we don't think there's anything wrong with it."

Nor does David Lash, the managing counsel of O'Melveny & Myers' pro bono services. It can raise the firm's profile, and give its lawyers a deeper understanding of the community in which they work, Lash said. "The more you invest in a community, the better the business relationships are as well."

Since opportunities are harder to find abroad, Latham & Watkins is helping to organize the first international seminar on pro bono, set for this October in Hungary.

"I think we're going to see an expansion of both community service and pro bono internationally," said Amos Hartston, Latham's pro bono counsel.

China's Hope program says it has built more than 9,500 schools throughout the country, many sponsored by local organizations, and some by global enterprises, like Coca-Cola and Motorola. The schools are commonly named after the organization donating the funds.

Dudek said the location of the new school is meaningful for at least two of lawyers in his firm's Shanghai office, as they both grew up in the mountainous province that houses the school -- about a 12-hour drive from Shanghai -- before receiving degrees in the United States.

The 268-student school will likely be a magnet school for five villages, concentrating the best resources in one place. In addition to the firm's initial cash contribution, Paul Hastings will likely donate additional funds as other facilities, such as dormitories, are needed.

Dudek said lawyers at the firm also plan to roll up their sleeves and head to the school for a weekend of clearing rocks or painting walls.

"At the signing ceremony, I said that I hope one day we'll be able to hire someone from the school," Dudek said.

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I. Introduction

You've received a call from the managing partner in your firm's intellectual property practice, who needs to hire three new associates, pronto.

You, as the law firm recruiting manager, need to come up with candidates for him as soon as possible. Although you hear the urgency in his voice, you are also aware that he is unlikely to compromise his high standards.

1. HELPFUL HINTS

The best way to demonstrate what works best is by offering a list of suggestions, followed by examples of unhelpful, adequate, and excellent responses in that eternal search for great lawyers.

1. Let us know your working style (and what drives you nuts). While many headhunters may think they understand what it is like to work in a law firm recruiting department, most have absolutely no idea of the daily pressures and multitudes of inquiries you deal with. As headhunters, we routinely hear horror stories from law firms about over-eager and inexperienced headhunters who believe, for example, that it is appropriate to follow up on a submission every single day, beginning the day after a candidate is presented. What do you do?

a. Unhelpful approach: Don't respond to inquiries and hope that the person stops annoying you with "Hi, just checking in" phone calls and emails.

b. Excellent approach: Explain your preferences upfront with a brief phone conversation or email. For example, do you appreciate follow-up calls, or do they bother you? Do you like inquiries by email or phone? Submissions by email or fax? What information do you like to have right from the start with your submissions? Taking the time to explain this information early on will save you a lot of time and future headaches. The search consultant will also appreciate knowing this information as well.

2. Call to discuss your important searches with the headhunters you use regularly.
Communicating your needs on specific searches can be done in any number of ways. Many firms provide the search firms they favor with a list of open searches on a regular basis.

a. Adequate request: Often, when the firm begins a new search, it's added to a list of open searches and sent out by email to certain search firms as an immediate update, or with the next scheduled circulation of law firm recruiting needs.

b. Excellent request: A phone call to a search firm or consultant you respect can serve to highlight an immediate need or a particular piece of necessary information that might have otherwise been overlooked. For example, you might name what types of candidates have not previously worked out or specific off-the-record information that may not be appropriate for wide distribution. Moreover, by receiving a call, the headhunter will put that search at the top of the pile because you've identified him/her as someone you want to work with. No one receives a personal phone call about a search if the firm isn't committed to filling the spot.

3. Clearly define the scope of your search.
Effectively defining the scope of your search includes specifying the (1) ideal and "in a perfect world" candidate; (2) the "not perfect, but we're still willing to consider" candidate; and (3) the "please don't even bother" candidate. While you may prefer to be a bit broader in your advertisements so as not to eliminate potential candidates, you can afford to be much more specific with your search consultant.

a. Adequate request: "We are looking for patent associates (electrical engineering background) with 3 to 6 years' experience."

b. Excellent request: "We are looking for a patent prosecution-only associate with 3-6 years of experience prosecuting electrical patent applications. (Must have experience with semiconductors and liquid crystal display technology.) This candidate should also be familiar with patent licensing issues, and Chinese language skills would be a bonus. (The department has numerous clients from China.) The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree in electrical engineering and both law firm and PTO experience. We would still be open to considering candidates with only undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering or only law firm experience. However, we will not consider candidates without prior law firm experience. Our IP practice is quite picky with grades, so ideal candidates should be from top-20 law schools and in the top 30 percent of their classes. We would still be open to considering candidates from other Tier-1 law schools so long as they are in the top 20 to 30 percent of their classes."

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Having a standard, firm-approved search-intake form that requests all the essential information is very helpful in streamlining the process and making sure everybody is aware of precisely what type of information is needed. If your firm does not yet have one, suggest having one created with input from the recruiting committee.


2. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

4. Give honest and specific feedback regarding the candidates you interview.
Because firms and practice groups are so different, the same candidate going on several interviews will typically get quite different responses from different firms.

Obviously, for you to give feedback on every candidate we present would take up too much time and is just not practical. However, if a candidate has had an interview, providing specific feedback can help us create a better and more sharply defined template to use for future candidates.

For example, if a candidate interviews and gets an offer, let the headhunter know what you liked about the candidate so that we can keep this information in mind for future candidates. Likewise, if you decide to pass on a candidate after an interview, any specific feedback you can provide (regarding the candidate’s personality, experience, etc.) will allow us to better assess future candidates and whether they would be a likely fit.

a. Adequate response: “Unfortunately, we are unable to bring Joe Smith in for further interviews at this time.”

b. Excellent response: “Unfortunately, we are unable to bring Joe Smith in for further interviews at this time. We thought his experience and credentials were right on, but the attorneys in the finance group noted that he did not seem genuinely enthusiastic about our practice. This group is very collegial and really wants to hire somebody who is extremely enthusiastic and committed.”

5. If a candidate has interviewed, keep the lines of communication open, even if you are not in the position to make an offer immediately.
One major roadblock to effective recruiting is losing the candidate because too much time has elapsed between the interview and offer stages. There are many perfectly good reasons the firm may have for this delay, most of them simply administrative. Nonetheless, from a candidate's perspective (where two days seems like two weeks), delay is almost always interpreted as a lack of interest and almost always lowers the candidate's view of the firm. One of the search consultant's roles is to encourage a firm to move the process along while managing the candidate's expectations and explaining the realities of the recruitment process.

a. Adequate communication: Tell the headhunter that there is no information to communicate and that the firm will be in touch when it knows whether or not it will extend an offer.

b. Excellent communication: "Our door is open." Although it is frustrating to return calls to a headhunter, wanting to know whether the candidate will receive an offer when you don't know the answer, keeping the lines of communication open is extremely important. Why? We have seen numerous candidates have unnecessary reservations about a firm during the post-offer stage due to the false impression that "the firm waited so long, it must not be very interested in me."

The best thing to do for a quality candidate who may have to wait for an offer? Tell your recruiter to keep that candidate "warm," and keep yourself available, even if you have nothing of substance to report. Also, if there is an administrative reason for the delay, let the headhunter know this as well. Therefore, the recruiter can assure the candidate that the lines of communication are open and that the process is moving along and provide an appropriate explanation when necessary.



A BIGGER PICTURE

6. Let us know how we are doing over the long term.
Often overlooked in the day-to-day details is long-term feedback for search firms and individual recruiters. Taking the time to reflect long term on your relationship with a search firm can increase the service you receive in the short term. a. Adequate approach: "We've used you before, so we wanted to let you know of a new search."

b. Excellent approach: "You know, we hired John through you last year. He's doing extremely well. He jumps in on every file and has really shown initiative, and that's a big deal here." At the same time, the following is also an excellent way to communicate: "We worked with you on a search last year, and we felt that you were sending too many unrelated résumés during that time." This kind of long-term feedback (as opposed to feedback on an individual résumé or interview) is useful because it allows the search consultant to develop a template to do business with you the way you want it done.

Remember, you can directly influence how effectively a search consultant acts on your behalf. While it may take a little bit more time upfront to put these tips to use, we guarantee that you will be rewarded over the long term.

by Dan Binstock, Esq., Carey Bertolet

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Today's edition of the Legal Mirror featured a new financial column called 'Checking Your Pockets' The aim of the column is to inform the readers about how much money people in selected industries make in Beijing. To pay respect to its name, Legal Mirror kicked off with lawyers. Here are the results of the report:

#1 If you want to earn the megabucks in the law business forget about being a prosecutor. The real money comes from deal-making consultancy and legal services provided to big companies and multinationals. Beijing lawyers specialized in this field - especially if they've studied abroad and have international experience - can make up to 10 million RMB a year (1,28 million USD).

#2 With an average salary of 300.000 RMB a year (36,136 USD) top Real Estate lawyers can't really complain. The ever soaring real estate market in Beijing, gives them plenty of work to write and check on contracts, agreements, disputes and so forth.

#3 Moving down in the ranking we find lawyers that come from out of town, working for Chinese legal firms from other provinces and with branch offices in the Capital. If they work hard enough the waidi lüshi or lawyers from out of town) can make up to 6,000 RMB a month (726 USD).

#4 Like in every other country, at the bottom of the pyramid we find the apprentice lawyers. According to Legal Mirror, these poor chaps have to work hard and do the most boring jobs in the firm for at least five years, before starting to make some decent money. In the meantime, they have to make do with around 1,000 RMB a month (121 USD).

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XMei International, a U.S.-China business consulting and development organization, announces that executive search expert Kyung H. Yoon will deliver a key speech at their upcoming conference and expo, “Making China Your ‘Gold Mountain.’”

Yoon, the vice chairman of Heidrich & Struggles International, Inc., will speak on “What it Takes to Lead in China,” addressing the leadership needs of Chinese organizations. The talk is based on a 12-month study of the top talent situation in China, conducted by Heidrich & Struggles in partnership with Stanford University’s Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Yoon will share her own insights from a long career in global executive search as well.

The research study is based on in-depth interviews with over 100 top executives of China technology enterprises like Lenovo, Neusoft, and AsiaInfo.
It provides a blueprint for how to pick the entrepreneurs and executives who are most likely to prevail in a highly competitive and fast-changing market.

“Making China Your Gold Mountain” will be held in South San Francisco from May 23-25 and is the first event in the U.S. with influential Chinese HR executives and business leaders from multinational companies, private Chinese companies, Chinese consulting firms and the government. XMei’s goal is to create an environment for learning and networking among those interested in business ventures between China and the U.S.

“Finding quality leadership is one of the key challenges of doing business in China,” said Xiaoli Mei, president and founder of XMei International. “Ms. Yoon’s experience and insight will prove invaluable to attendees.”

An executive summary of the study, titled “Getting Results in China,” may be downloaded at http://www.xmei-int.com/whitePapers.html.

About Kyung Yoon
Kyung Yoon is vice chairman of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. and a member of the Office of the Chairmen, which directs the firm’s board of directors, CEO and other marquee search assignments on a worldwide basis. Since joining the firm in 1994 in Menlo Park, California, Kyung has been one of the key drivers in Heidrick & Struggles’ Asia Pacific expansion. She served as Area Managing Partner, North Asia, with management responsibility for the Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul offices and spent five years in Singapore and Hong Kong.

About XMei International

XMei International is dedicated to promoting business development between the U.S. and China. It organizes events, both in the U.S. and China, which enable companies to develop new business opportunities, increase knowledge of the other country’s business practices, and make valuable international business connections. XMei International also offers other services, including business matches and consulting and market research for both U.S. and Chinese clients.

Contact:
Liz Menkes
XMei International
lmenkes(at)xmei-int.com
925-708-6304

Germany's Wacker Chemie AG is participating in an initiative launched by the German Deutsche Energie Agentur GmbH and the Chinese Ministry of Construction to support and promote the construction and renovation of climate-adapted and energy-efficient buildings in China.

A roadshow through six major Chinese cities has started in Beijing and includes a series of seminars on energy-efficient construction for Chinese construction industry professionals. The aim is to support the development and use of energy-efficient products and promote internationally recognized quality standards in China.

Rising fuel costs, global warming and local climatic conditions mean that efficient exterior insulation is becoming increasingly important in China. After all, the better a building's insulation is, the less energy is needed for heating and air conditioning. Wacker research says it has shown that effective exterior insulation can reduce a building's energy consumption by up to 60%. According to Deutsche Energie Agentur, buildings in China require four times as much energy for heating and cooling per square meter of living area than those in industrialized European countries.

As the federal German competence centre for energy efficiency and renewable energies, Deutsche Energie Agentur coordinates and implements projects and campaigns at a national and international level. Now, Deutsche Energie Agentur has joined up with Wacker and other European industrial partners to carry out a strategic and high-profile transfer of German construction-sector energy-efficiency expertise to China.

Six regional seminars are scheduled, involving close collaboration with the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Town Planning, the Chinese Ministry of Construction and the subsidiary Center for Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Support is also being provided by the German Embassy in Beijing. In these technical seminars, experts will explain energy-efficient construction practices to Chinese participants and emphasize the necessity of quality regarding planning, the choice of materials and during construction itself.

Besides Beijing, seminars will be held over the coming months in Shenyang, Shanghai, Qingdao, Chengdu and Shenzhen. To accompany and complement the presentations, the organizers are publishing a manual featuring the most important energy-efficiency activities in both new construction projects and the renovation of existing buildings.

China's rapid economic expansion has allowed Beijing to fund a recruitment drive targeting some of the best and brightest IT graduates from U.S. universities, according to Chinese sources.

In turn, this brain trust is being used by China both as a control on its own Internet revolution and as a potential resource for North Korea' cyberwar program.

South Korea defense ministry said North Korean hackers are targeting the most tightly-guarded systems of that country's main foes to extract intelligence information and to spread viruses capable of wiping out material or, at least, slowing down computers.

North Korean students learn how to use computers at an elite school in Pyongyang. AFP


Defense officials said privately that North Korea, with no great pool of computer whizzes from which to select, is relying on Chinese aid and advice to train some 600 qualified hackers in five years.
One Hong Kong-based specialist said China has a budget for hiring the best IT graduates from U.S. universities to monitor and control Internet news reporting, and useage within its own borders as well as for a national security resource. "They've got the money, and they are spending it," he said.

In North Korea, the campaign ranks as a priority for Kim Jong-Il, who whetted his appetite for computer skullduggery during visits to China and Russia several years ago. Kim made a point of visiting computer labs in both countries and decided that all North Koreans should somehow become adept at operating computers even though Internet access is forbidden except for the highly privileged elites.

Those having access include Kim Jong-Il’s closest relatives, friends and allies, notably from the armed forces, as well as extremely well-trained technicians who had to pass strenuous tests of loyalty before being accepted into the elite computer course.

Students are studying in China and also at an academy that South Korean officials say has been educating a cadre of elite technicians for more than 20 years in a remote mountainous region.