Surveying the Asia Markets

 

Here we sit in Hong Kong, midway through our semiannual review and survey of the major law firm market here. While we normally have someone on the ground here in Hong Kong, only twice a year are both authors of this column in town gathering and compiling the latest and greatest information about who is hiring, who is firing, and what people expect for the future.

Given the state of the current global economy and most U.S. legal hiring markets, we were somewhat anxious about what we might find as a result of this survey. We know that our business has seen positive trends this year in Asia, but a valid survey needs to include data not only on our business, but the overall hiring picture for our clients. We are pleased to be able to report, preliminarily, that things look good. While we have detected a note of caution among some of our clients, the outlook on the whole is positive. Most firms remain busy, even if not at as frenetic a pace as in 2007.

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Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Demonstrating Your Desirability

 

Last week we discussed some of the things law firm partners seek when staffing their overseas outposts in Asia. To be a successful associate, you need an entrepreneurial spirit, a high level of maturity for your experience level, and an outgoing personality (i.e., not overly academic). You should should be well put-together, presenting as little obvious risk of being a prima donna as possible. How do you know for yourself whether you cut the mustard under these factors — and how do you make it clear to those who interview you that you do?

Successful overseas lawyers have a high degree of entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s face it: you earn a few points just by being willing to leave the comfort of your life in the U.S. or U.K. and move overseas to Asia. Beyond this, law firm partners try to look at your past to determine your future. Were you a competitive athlete, moot court competitor, or actual entrepreneur at some point in your life? If you were, it’s important to bring this out in your resume and cover letter, as well as in your interviews, because these are experiences common among entrepreneurs. If you had experience prior to law school with scientific research, on the other hand, realize this sort of experience can signal to an astute interviewer that you may be happiest in a comfortable role, without much risk, and the rewards of sticking your neck out in the fast-paced world of Asian finance might not be strong motivators for you.

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Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Interview Tips

 

This week we are going to discuss what partners at U.S. or U.K. firms’ Asia offices seek when they are considering U.S. associate candidates. These topics are related in that the partners who interview candidates typically are looking to identify the people who will be most happy not only with the work that is presented by the Asia practice, but also with the style of practice and with their lives outside the office.

Interviewing for an overseas position at any busy U.S. law firm or with the U.S. practice group of a UK firm is a bit different from interviewing for a spot in a domestic market for the same firm. As with any interview process, the gating factors at top U.S. practices in Asia are academics and law firm experience. Without impressive grades and top firm experience, you generally won’t be considered. But overseas partners are also looking for the right personality fit much more so than in a large domestic office. A major reason for this is because the offices are much smaller overseas, making it harder to hide a misfit (even a junior associate can be the face of the firm), but there are other reasons as well.

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Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

A Look at Current Hiring Trends

 

On Monday we discussed some positive trends in M&A in Asia, notwithstanding the turmoil in credit markets and overall economic downturn globally. Today, we discuss very briefly some of the lateral hiring trends we have been seeing in Asia recently and in ’08 in general.

We have not seen an overall reduction in hiring of U.S. associates in Asia, but firms have been much more selective than in ’07. This is for a variety of reasons. Some notable U.S. and British firms in Asia are hiring at a significantly slower clip than in ’07, but this unfortunate trend is being balanced out by other peer firms hiring significantly more than in ’07. There are a number of firms in heavy expansion mode, with several top U.S. firms in Hong Kong / China, for example, that will easily double the size of their offices in ’08. Some U.S. firms in Asia have very aggressive medium-term (5-6 year) expansion plans to have 100+ attorney offices. Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly to readers, some of the most urgent needs still happen to be for mid-level to senior U.S. securities associates, despite the slower pace of capital-markets deal flow coming in.

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Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Focus on M&A

This week, we are going to very briefly discuss the state of the market for major law firms in Asia, with a focus on M&A, and with our usual slant towards Hong Kong / China (as that is where the majority of the hiring is taking place these days). In future editions, we plan to eventually devote an article to all the major practice areas in Asia, as well as each major Asia market generally (e.g., Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong).

Notwithstanding the global economic slowdown, most of our U.S. associate friends in Asia remain busy. Some, including the authors of prior installments of the Asia Chronicles, are as busy as ever. They are so slammed, in fact, that these poor writers don’t have time to pen the Asia Chronicles this week (as well as some of the past several weeks — or do their laundry, for that matter). But that is another story for another day, when we focus more on quality of life for U.S. associates in Asia.

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Tags:  Hong Kong

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