Making Law Firms Better —
Your Voice Matters
A Survey by The Advocate Metrics Insights Pte Ltd
Welcome
WELCOME to The Advocate's questionnaire aimed at evaluating and improving the professional environment for young lawyers in Singapore law firms, including various employment conditions such as career support, mentorship, firm culture, and work-life balance.
The questions are designed to obtain an accurate view of Associateship Practice Experience and Journey, as well as to introduce new perspectives and issues under-discussed in Singapore to all Associates.
Our Purpose
We're working to enhance the professional environment in Singapore law firms, with a focus on mentorship quality, career development, and work-life balance. Our approach is simple: recognize excellence and encourage positive change. Firms that excel get acknowledged, while others remain unlisted — no negative exposure, just recognition of best practices.
Your feedback is crucial for driving positive change in the industry. It helps to identify both good and poor practices within law firms, contribute to creating better career development opportunities and inspire positive change by showcasing firms that excel in supporting young lawyers.
Our objective is not to criticize, but to highlight excellence and motivate firms to adopt best practices for the benefit of all young professionals. Firms that do not rank or rank too low simply remain unlisted rather than facing negative exposure — but your feedback is still needed to establish this.
We Take Your Confidentiality Seriously
The answers required of you through our Questionnaire are based on your personal experiences, instead of client information, specific case details, firm financial data, trade secrets or privileged communications.
All responses are secured with enterprise-grade encryption and processed in strict compliance with PDPA guidelines. We only publish anonymized, aggregated data, and your individual responses remain completely confidential. Your information will never be shared with individual firms or third parties.
Every submission is protected under our Non-Disclosure Agreement, ensuring your privacy at every step — which you can access here: our-nda-with-participants
Information Required
The only identifying information we require from you is your law firm name, which you will provide directly in the survey. No personal name or email address is needed.
How to Participate
If you are an Associate in a Singapore law firm and wish to participate, kindly email SpeakUp@theadvocate.sg or reach out via LinkedIn to any of our Outreachers:
Results and Publication
We expect these to be made public in this space in the months ahead.
When Published
What to Expect
Our rankings will assess law firms across 9 core domains, each drawn directly from verified associate responses — giving you the most comprehensive picture of firm life in Singapore.
01
Mentorship
Quality of guidance and senior support
"My supervising partner gives me constructive feedback that genuinely helps my development."
"Which dominant leadership style best describes your firm's management culture?"
"How does your firm typically react when an honest mistake is made on a file?"
02
Work Satisfaction
Meaningfulness and fulfilment of work
"I find the work I do at this firm intellectually stimulating and professionally rewarding."
"Which statement best describes the culture around work hours at your firm?"
"How much autonomy or control do you have over how you complete your work?"
"How would you rate your physical work environment (e.g., office layout, noise levels, amenities)?"
03
Culture
Firm values, environment and inclusivity
"The firm's culture makes me feel comfortable being myself at work."
"Does your firm's stated work-life policies genuinely apply in practice, or are they performative?"
"To what extent do you feel psychologically safe to voice a dissenting opinion or flag a potential problem without fear of negative consequences?"
04
Teamwork
Collaboration and collegial relationships
"Associates at this firm support one another rather than compete against each other."
"When you collaborate on a file, how is credit for the work typically allocated?"
"Is there a sense of competition among associates for high-profile work or partner attention?"
05
Compensation
Fairness and competitiveness of pay
"My compensation fairly reflects the hours I put in and the value I contribute."
"How transparent is the process for determining salary and bonuses at your firm?"
06
Performance
Clarity of feedback and appraisal systems
"I have a clear understanding of what is expected of me to progress to the next level."
"Does your performance evaluation suffer from 'recency bias'?"
07
Engagement
Motivation, belonging and retention
"I see myself still working at this firm two years from now."
"How do you perceive the path to partnership at your firm?"
"Which of the following best describes the 'partnership track' at your firm?"
08
Firm Quality
Overall prestige and professional standards
"The quality of work and clients at this firm meets the standard I expected when I joined."
"How effectively does your firm support lawyers with parental or caregiving responsibilities?"
09
Diversity
Equity, inclusion and representation
"Regardless of background, associates at this firm are given equal opportunity to succeed."
"Have you ever witnessed or experienced microaggressions in your workplace?"
Firm-by-firm rankings based on verified associate feedback across all 9 domains
Year-over-year trend comparisons as the dataset grows
Industry-wide benchmarks and strategic insights for the profession
Contact and Support
For any questions or assistance, please reach out to our Director, Shing, at shing@theadvocate.sg or connect via LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/shingchowcheng
THANK YOU for taking the time to contribute to this important initiative. Your perspective is invaluable in our efforts to enhance the professional environment within Singapore's legal community.
Most Common Questions
Survey FAQ
I am in a very small law firm, so it will be very obvious I contributed to the survey.
Answer: We publish only the law firms who have done well in any/each category that our Survey covers. In other words, law firms who are not ranked can be assumed to have insufficient positive responses in those categories OR did not have any responses.
Can my responses be traced back to me?
Answer: Not at all. Our survey publishes only positive rankings and only COLLECTIVE results (not individual responses). In addition, in submitting your responses, we enter into an NDA with you that prevents us from revealing this information.