Law Firms Seek Lawyers with 1-3 Years' Experience, Corporations Prefer 4-6 Years

Legal Crew "Lawyer Recruitment Report"
Analysis of 2,242 Job Postings from January to October 2025
Demand for Immediately Deployable Talent
Most Salaries Offered Around 100 Million Won

It has been confirmed with concrete data that the South Korean legal recruitment market is being reorganized to prioritize candidates who can contribute immediately. Nine out of ten law firms seeking to hire lawyers preferred those with one to three years of experience, while over half of companies hiring in-house legal counsel sought lawyers with four to six years of experience who can make independent judgments. The most common annual salary (pre-tax) offered ranged from 84 million to 120 million won.

The legal career platform Legal Crew analyzed 2,242 lawyer job postings listed on domestic job platforms from January to October 2025. Of these, 1,446 postings specified preferred years of experience, and 896 of them (62%) favored lawyers with three years of experience or less.

As this trend toward hiring experienced lawyers spreads, only 15% of job postings were for entry-level lawyers. Considering that more than 1,700 candidates pass the bar exam each year, the hiring environment for new lawyers appears to be deteriorating.

Law Firms: "Cost-Effective Junior Lawyers"

Law firms showed a pronounced preference for junior lawyers. In 89.3% of law firm job postings, firms were seeking lawyers with one to three years of experience. The main hiring targets were junior lawyers capable of handling basic litigation tasks such as drafting documents, reviewing records, and attending court hearings. Lawyers with one to three years of experience are less costly in terms of salary and compensation compared to those with five years or more, and they can be immediately assigned to practical work without additional training. Legal Crew analyzed, "Partners are expensive, and there is no time to train new hires. This is similar to the trend in the U.S. market, where the hiring of junior associate lawyers is increasing."

In contrast, in the private sector, lawyers with four to six years of experience were the most sought after. Among in-house job postings, 312 out of 615 (50.7%) were looking for lawyers with four to six years of experience, accounting for more than half. The proportion of postings seeking lawyers with one to three years of experience was 28.3%, about a quarter of the total. In-house legal teams tend to prefer experienced professionals who, rather than simply handling cases, can communicate with relevant departments without supervision and be directly involved in key company decisions such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), major contracts, and compliance (corporate governance).

Corporations: "Experienced Professionals with Teamwork Skills"

Corporate legal teams act as internal consultants, collaborating with various departments such as HR, sales, audit, and finance. For this reason, companies pay close attention to how well a lawyer can work with others when making hiring decisions. Legal Crew cited the fact that most in-house legal teams are composed of small, elite groups. Unlike law firms, which may have dozens or even hundreds of lawyers, corporate legal teams rely on a small number of people to handle key work, making organizational cohesion directly linked to job performance.

Job postings for managerial positions requiring at least seven years of experience accounted for 21% (129 postings) of the total. Legal Crew analyzed, "In-house positions are functioning as new bases for participating in organizational management and building sustainable careers."

Approximately 31.5% of all job postings did not specify a preferred range of experience and simply stated 'experience not required.' Legal Crew interpreted this not as a simple 'open recruitment,' but as a strategic choice to negotiate compensation and roles based on the actual capabilities of applicants.

This is because specifying a particular level of experience also requires offering a corresponding salary.

Reporter Cho Hanju, Law Times

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.