We have what we consider a very special opening at a well known, global and prestigious hedge fund in Hong Kong that most likely will be filled by a US associate from a top firm in HK (or possibly from elsewhere in SE Asia). Kinney has been given an exclusive search to fill this role. Here are some of the basics of the background the fund is looking for. Please feel free to reach out to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for many more details.

• Experience level – preferably 4 to 6 years of experience from top law firm (preferably US qualified)
• At least a few years experience on the ground in Asia
• English only is perfectly fine (Mandarin not required)
• Significant debt experience
• Great presentation and communication skills
• Able to handle high level of responsibility without direct supervision in HK
• Will be responsible for SFC regulatory compliance and keeping on top of relevant regulatory developments in numerous Asia markets
• Will provide transactional support for public market trading desks

Candidates from cap markets or finance backgrounds, from top firms, could be a good fit for this role. Significant debt experience is key. Compensation is very competitive with what one would find at same level at a top Wall St. firm in HK / China (all in, including expat / cola). The new hire is likely to come from a top firm in Asia, rather than a bank or another in-house position, but those candidates will not be per se excluded.

The US biglaw lateral hiring market in Asia continues to be slow, as we expected going into first quarter ’12. Our prediction is that hiring will pick up by early summer. In any event, we have had a decent run of US associate and counsel placements in HK / China law firms in the first 9 weeks of the year, with 11 such placements thus far. The practice areas of these placements have been cap markets (3), M&A (3), Litigation (2), Fund Formation (1) and Project Finance (2). Two of these persons are fluent in Korean, eight are fluent in Mandarin and one is Indian background. We also have made two in-house placements of US attorneys this year in HK / China and an associate placement in Tokyo and Singapore. Our numbers are down compared to first quarter ‘11, but the lateral market was much hotter then and has been slow since late summer ’11. Currently, a number of our US associate candidates are interviewing in HK / China, Tokyo and Singapore for positions in project finance, fund formation, cap markets, litigation, and M&A.

Although we have made three recent US associate placements in cap markets practices in HK, most US cap markets teams are not hiring at this time (with some not even interviewing). We expect that to change in the next few months, as the outlook for IPO activity continues to improve a bit and US firm managements release restrictions on hiring by their HK / China offices (the restrictions are influenced not only by deal flow in Asia, but also by fall ’11 fears of possible “hard landing” in China and the conservative nature of US firms, regarding hiring, since the great recession). At this time, US cap markets teams that are hiring in HK / China can be extremely selective, unlike the recent hiring boom from late ’10 to mid ’11. Thus it can be difficult for even the most highly qualified US cap markets associates to get offers at present in HK / China. Last year at this time, most top US firms in HK / China had two or more cap markets associate openings, but most of these same cap markets practices are not hiring now.

However, part of the lack of hiring has to do with firm management in US putting holds or restrictions on hiring, rather than it being completely the result of lack of deal flow in Asia. Since the great recession of ’08, hiring partners at a number of US and UK firms in Asia have had to jump through hoops to get clearance to make offers, except for late ’10 through mid ’11, when most of these firms had the full green light to hire US associates as they please (only after many US cap markets practices in HK / China became very understaffed)

Happy Chinese New Year! We were extremely busy the past few months, including most of our US based team working from our Hong Kong offices during November and December.

As a follow up from our recent post, which listed our 62 US associate and counsel placements in Asia last year (vast majority in HK / China), please note that thus far in January ’12, we have already made seven US associate and counsel placements in Asia. This is an especially impressive number, considering the biglaw lateral hiring market in Asia is down right now (see state of the market brief overview below). These new placements are of new hires in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, who were interviewing with their new firm for a month or more and they are spread out among different practice areas, including project finance, litigation, fund formation, M&A and cap markets. We are close on four additional new associate placements, in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, that we expect to close soon. We do not discuss partner placements in these articles, but the pace of partner recruitment in Asia (a large part of our business) has continued.

Hedge Fund In-House Openings in Hong Kong

We are seeing a small run of new in-house openings in Hong Kong at hedge funds. We are currently filling three different in-house positions at three different hedge funds in Hong Kong, two of these searches we are handling on an exclusive basis. All three will most likely be filled by a US associate, with about 4 to 6 years of experience. Mandarin not required. Candidates from NYC and London will be considered, but at one of these funds the new hire will likely come from Hong Kong / China or Singapore (with HK being the strong preference).

Please feel free to reach out to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are interested in these hedge fund openings. As you probably would expect, the competition for these spots will be fierce and the funds will be very selective when choosing which candidates to interview.

Come join us this Thursday evening at NYU for an Asia career development seminar put on by the Asian Practice Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association. In the past, biglaw associates have found this type of event to be of great help when considering a move to Asia. Here is some basic info on the event:

Career Development in the Legal and Finance Fields

7:00PM - 9:00PM, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011

New York University

Room 212, Furman Hall

245 Sullivan Street

Co-Organizers:

Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association

US China Legal Exchange Foundation

Chinese Public Company Advisory Committee of UCCA

Culture and Career Club

Asian Financial Society

Interested in Asia or an Asia-focused legal or finance career? Want to find an Asian practice related job or grow your Asian practice? Curious about how to build your network and develop more career opportunities? Come join us at our career development panel with four experienced professionals in the legal and finance fields!

Topics:

1. The Asian job market for legal and financial professionals

2. Insiders’ tips on qualities that law firms and financial institutions look for in candidates

3. Insights from practitioners about how to grow your Asian practice

4. Professionals’ views on how to network and find more career opportunities in the legal and financial industries

Panelists:

Zhihui Julie Guo, Attorney from NY office of a top US law firm

Alex Hao, Partner from NY office of a top Chinese law firm

Kevin Pollack (Former lawyer and now fund manager)

Evan P. Jowers (Head of Asia recruiting at Kinney Recruiting)

When:

7 pm, Thursday, November 17, 2011

Where:

New York University

Room 212, Furman Hall

245 Sullivan Street

The lateral hiring market for biglaw US attorneys has slowed down substantially in the past four months.   We at Kinney have been fortunate to have continued a nice run of placements, but even our pace has slowed due to market conditions.  We have made 62 placements of US associates and counsels at law firms in Asia in 2011 thus far (the vast majority in Hong Kong/ China and not including partners or in-house placements), but 42 of those had come by the end of June.   Our pace would have slowed down even further had we not been successful in making a much larger than usual number of fund formation and litigation placements for a four month period.

Please see our list of 2011 Asia placements below:

Skadden – Hong Kong *
Milbank – Singapore*
Shearman – Beijing
Morrison & Foerster – Hong Kong*
Davis Polk – Hong Kong*
Skadden – Shanghai
Skadden – Beijing
Latham – Beijing
Latham – Hong Kong*
Latham – Singapore
Paul Hastings – Hong Kong *
Simpson Thacher – Hong Kong*
Ropes & Gray – Hong Kong
*
Ropes & Gray – Shanghai*
Orrick – Hong Kong
Orrick – Beijing
Clifford Chance – Singapore*
Clifford Chance – Hong Kong
A&O – Hong Kong*
Proskauer Rose – Hong Kong
Baker & McKenzie – Hong Kong
Freshfields – Hong Kong
Shearman – Hong Kong*
White & Case – Singapore
Linklaters – Singapore
O’Melveny – Shanghai*
Skadden – Singapore
Vinson & Elkins – Shanghai
CWT – Beijing
Debevoise – Hong Kong*
Kirkland & Ellis – Hong Kong*
Kirkland & Ellis – Shanghai*
Gibson Dunn – Hong Kong
White & Case – Beijing
Kobre & Kim – Hong Kong*
Shearman – Singapore
Hogan Lovells – Tokyo
Freshfields – Tokyo
* denotes multiple placements at the firm in question.