How are we doing, Hong Kong?

Banner photo credit: hksevens.com

Blink, and 2026 will be upon us, as anyone living and working in Hong Kong will testify. And in this past quarter, I got the question, “How are things”, a lot. As someone raised with the typical exuberance, vivaciousness, and energy of a Brit, my usual response would be, “It’s alright. All things considered.”   

So, as we celebrate the first day of April with an abundance of photos on social media of beautiful Sakura trees blossoming around the world, today’s a good day to review Hong Kong’s first quarter of 2025 objectively.

Business 

From an event’s perspective, it’s been a resounding success for the city. January saw the Asian Financial Forum (AFF), which brought together global policymakers, financiers, and corporate leaders to discuss economic resilience, fintech innovation, and sustainable finance. In February, we had movers and shakers from the digital asset world descend upon the city at one of the world’s biggest crypto conferences, Consensus 2025, swiftly followed in March by RISE Hong Kong, one of Asia’s largest tech startup conferences, focusing on AI, Web3, and venture capital trends. Later in March, we had the Hong Kong International Arbitration Week, a key event for legal professionals, highlighting the city’s role as a dispute resolution centre amid growing cross-border commercial tensions.

Sporting and Other Events 

In sports, Hong Kong continued its tradition of world-class events with the Hong Kong Marathon in February, attracting elite runners and 74,000 participants. 

March exploded with activities with US-originated pop culture and fashion exhibition Complexcon at Asia Live Expo. And the last week of March firmly put Hong Kong back on the events map with major international art event, Art Basel and the sporting jewel of the city, the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament, where corporate smart casual professionals wearing chinos and rugby tops mix and party with an eclectic mix of young professionals in fancy dress, friends who have flown afar to reunite, as well as dads enjoying a beer and sport with their young kids in tow.

What I love about these events is the sheer genius of these art and crypto events with so many ancillary events going on around the city that makes the whole city soar even higher in energy. Without Art Basel, for example, there would be no Art Central, whilst Consensus had over 300 off-site side-events, and the combined pull of both amplifies the buzz and the number of visitors to the city for those events.

Whilst Art Basel and Art Central were a resounding success in their own right, the icing on the cake so far must be the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament at its new home in Kai Tak Sports Stadium, a major draw for international athletes and fans, further boosting tourism and hospitality sectors. And what a site to behold, not just with the sporting spectacular in a shiny gleaming 50,000 capacity stadium, but for those outside the stadium, you would have seen a Cathay Pacific A350 passenger plane, flight CX8100, flying low over Victoria Harbour to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of aviation history at Kai Tak. And what a fitting tribute that was, and a nod to the stadium being on the site of the former Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport, the sight of planes flying in and out of Kowloon long having become extinct. 

The Hong Kong International Film Festival also returned, featuring regional and global cinema premieres. Additionally, the Lunar New Year celebrations in February spurred retail and tourism activity, with mainland visitor numbers showing a partial recovery compared to previous years.

What about the economy? 

According to official figures from the HK Census & Statistics Department, Hong Kong’s economy in the first quarter of 2025 experienced moderate growth, with GDP expanding by 2.3% year-on-year, slightly below government expectations and owing to global economic challenges. The unemployment rate remained stable at 2.9%, reflecting a tight labour market, though hiring trends varied across sectors.  

Legal jobs

The legal jobs market saw mixed activity, with law firms adopting a cautious approach, leading to a 5-10% decline in new job postings compared to the previous quarter, according to data from LinkedIn and JobsDB. However, demand for in-house legal professionals, particularly in compliance, corporate governance, and regulatory roles, increased by around 8%, driven by stricter financial regulations and cross-border business needs. Legal support roles, such as paralegals and legal secretaries, saw a drop of approximately 15%.   

The broader jobs market showed resilience in finance and technology, especially in fintech and cybersecurity, while retail and hospitality saw a mild recovery as a result of returning Mainland Chinese tourists. In contrast, construction and real estate remained sluggish amid high interest rates. 

Internally, Hong Kong’s regulatory environment, including ongoing adjustments to the National Security Law and new legislative measures, influenced hiring sentiment, particularly in multinational firms. Externally, global events such as renewed US-China trade tensions in January, China’s reported economic slowdown, the EU’s new ESG disclosure rules coming into effect in Hong Kong, and the Trump Administration’s throwing tariff grenades at anyone and everyone has had ripple effects on Hong Kong’s economy, shaping demand in the legal and financial sectors.  

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, legal job postings decreased by about 7%, with in-house roles proving more resilient than law firm vacancies. Unemployment remained nearly unchanged, rising slightly from 2.8% to 2.9%, while GDP growth slowed marginally from 2.6% to 2.3%.

These figures have somewhat come as a surprise as we have experienced a noticeable surge in active roles in both the private practice and in-house legal sectors in Hong Kong throughout March and perhaps the statistics show what a slow start we had to the quarter with the late spike evened out across the three month-period. Almost daily, we have received new vacancy requests from clients searching for qualified legal and compliance professionals, legal managers, paralegals, and back-office staff at all levels.

So, what we have seen in this quarter in Hong Kong are key demands for mid-senior level qualified lawyers in law firms in contentious fields including commercial litigation, restructuring and insolvency, international arbitration, financial services regulatory, investigations and corporate crime, and employment matters. On the non-contentious side, we have seen demand for similar level qualified lawyers in funds incorporation, funds regulatory, general banking and finance, corporate M&A, and some demand for mixed capital markets (debt and equity) and US capital markets. This quarter has also seen a distinct increase in demand for corporate paralegals.

Across the in-house legal sector, we have demand mid-senior general commercial lawyers, employee relations specialists, litigation and regulatory in financial services, and funds. in addition, more Heads of Legal and GC roles are starting to appear (for a confidential discussion, speak to our Head of In-house Legal team, Annie Tang, on annie.tang@staranise.com.hk. 

In Singapore, we are seeing more demand among law firms for M&A associates with experience of handling India deals, investigations, arbitration, commercial litigation, PE, funds, and energy lawyers, whilst the in-house side has remained steady in demand for general commercial lawyers

In Beijing, there has been a pick up in demand among law firsm for investigations lawyers and US capital markets lawyers, whilst Tokyo sees a steady demand for mid-level M&A as well as general finance lawyers among international law firms. 

Across all cities, there is also an increasing appetite among international law firms for corporate and dispute resolution partners with a sizeable book of portable business and loyal client-following. 

Looking ahead to the second quarter of 2025, we do sense the legal sector seeing a distinct recovery as the number of IPOs are being announced with increasing frequency since the latter half of 2024, regulatory workloads increase, and in-house hiring is expected to remain strong as companies prioritise cost efficiency. A potential rebound in M&A activity could also emerge if US-China relations stabilise. Overall, Hong Kong’s job market in Q1 2025 demonstrated stability amid global uncertainties, with the legal sector adapting to shifting demand and external pressures.  

What next?

If the first quarter hasn’t impressed you, wait until what’s in store for event lovers later this year with British music band Coldplay and Hong Kong artist Nicholas Tse each having a run of concerts at Kai Tak Sports Stadium, together with American singing stars Kehlani and Gracie Abrams, Korean indie band Earth to Wave, and a diverse mix of other international artists and concerts from different genres ranging from jazz, classical, indie, J and K-pop making appearances.

In May, we’ll look forward to the Hong Kong Raggae Ska festival and the Affordable Art Fair, and in the summer we’ll have the Hong Kong Football Festival with a series of pre-season friendly matches featuring English Premier League clubs, Liverpool FC, Tottenham, and Arsenal FC, and Italian footballing giant, AC Milan. 

On the business side, Hong Kong has fast become the city for Family Offices and is now recognised as the leading FO hub in Asia, with another 150 family offices worldwide expressing an interest in launching an office. And if you look at the events calendar there is an international business conference or event of some sort virtually every week, if not every day. In late August, we have another major crypto event, Bitcoin Asia 2025, and Hong Kong Legal Week in December.  

Anecdotally, I am hearing increasing numbers of stories of individuals and families who left Hong Kong during Covid moving back or looking to move back to the city. 

So, is Hong Kong back? 

With so many constant headwinds from different directions that Hong Kong has encountered over the last six years, and is still encountering, I wouldn’t say Hong Kong is with absolute certainty back, we still have a long way to go. Granted, Hong Kong isn’t the city that it was 20, even 10 years ago.

It’s evolving and finding its own new identity, step by step. And with each step forward, the city is finding firmer ground.

No matter what, there is no loss of love for the city whether it’s from people who used to live and work here or people who have visited the city the first time, you will not fail to have some positive experience from being here. At the recent Consensus 2025 crypto conference, it was heartwarming to speak to so many new visitors who raved about their first visit to the city. 

The most important thing is, Hong Kong is heading in the right direction. And that can only be a good thing. 

If you have reached this point of this article, I stand by my original learn-ed realist view. 

It’s alright. 

All things considered. 
 

Enjoy this article? Connect with Chris on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/in/tangchris/