Drew & Napier Voted Top Law Firm Employer Again

15 April 2009 - For the 2^nd consecutive year, Drew & Napier LLC has been named as the Employer of Choice by Asian Legal Business (ALB). Drew beat all local and foreign law firms to emerge at the top of the list for Singapore.

The survey - based on votes from current and past employees, research with legal HR practitioners and recruitment consultants - was taken across 11 countries in Asia Pacific. This is also the 2nd year that the award is organized.

There were 6 assessment categories. Except for Drew, in none of the categories was any Singapore firm named among the top three. Drew emerged among the top three in training and development. The other five factors are financial rewards, advancement opportunities, performance feedback, work-life balance and quality of work.

Recruitment Director, Kelvin Tan, explains the value that the firm places in training, "In any law firm intellectual capital is really your greatest asset. Our lawyers are dealing with clients' expectations and complex commercial transactions. Our training takes our young beyond excellence in the law to empathy and commercial astuteness in dealing with clients and their concerns."

The firm has been taking in around 40 pupils from local and foreign universities each year, and consistently retained a good proportion of its pupils. The firm continues to hold a positive outlook and is committed to being ready to meet clients' needs. In the most recent batch of pupils, some 80% have been retained. The firm also continues to hire laterally at various levels, and receives a constant stream of applications received from lawyers of varying seniority.

In addition, Associate Director Eugene Tan, who heads a committee comprising lawyers from the various business groups in the firm that organises social gatherings, says, "As part of the firm's efforts to maintain a work-life balance, we create opportunities for the people within the firm to gather and relax. These activities inject fun into the work environment." Senior Associate Darrell Low agrees, "These informal gatherings allow us to interact and get to know one another better as friends rather than as work colleagues. This makes coming to work enjoyable."