Alexis Lamb here. Just returned from a long weekend in Australia where I ran the Gold Coast half marathon on July 4, and decided to pop up to Sydney for some meetings. Since I was just there, I thought I’d share with you all my thoughts on the Sydney market as well as some details about what it’s like to live and work in Sydney.
THE MARKET FOR U.S. ASSOCIATES
The market for U.S. associates in Sydney is not typically strong, although we have made placements in Sydney in the past. Earlier this year we assisted one of our clients in filling a need in Sydney and we are very close to making another placement there as well.
The qualifications to getting a job in Sydney are very similar to the qualifications required to getting a job in HK or Singapore. Candidates with a strong academic background and work experience at a top NY-style “biglaw” practice will be the most competitive (or the only candidates seriously considered). Capital Markets experience, particularly experience with unregistered (Regulation S, 144A) offerings involving foreign issuers, is also required as U.S. practice groups overseas exist primarily to advise overseas issuers on U.S. capital markets laws. Ties to Australia are not typically required.
Tags: Asia | Hong Kong
It is always good for Robert and me to continue to visit HK about once every two months, to stay informed and meet our clients in person. I will be heading to Beijing later this month and Robert and I will be back in HK in August. Although Dubai is not exactly a hot lateral market this year, I will be also in Dubai in August (unfortunately at the time of year when it is literally too hot to walk down the street very far).
One of our top US firm clients has asked us to help them find two US securities associates interested in relocating to Sydney. The two positions will be filled by 3rd to 5th year cap markets associates, most likely coming from a top 20 US firm in New York or another major US market. The role will be entirely US securities law and not deal at all with local law (unlike which can happen in HK and other overseas markets at some firms). This US cap markets practice in Sydney is widely considered to be the best in Australia. It is an opportunity to settle down permanently in Sydney (there is career advancement potential and this firm has a track record of promoting partners from within in busy overseas offices) or spend a few years getting interesting experience and then head back to US. While this position will be challenging and of course consist of long hours, a strong argument can be made that it is a better quality of life than working in biglaw in NYC. Past experience or strong connection to Australia not needed to apply for this position. Of course, we are happy to go over the opportunity in detail with you by phone / email if you are interested. I met with the hiring partner from this firm’s Sydney office yesterday, as he was in the US on business. He said they are prepared to move very quickly with offers for the right two candidates, so it will not be a drawn out process. Further, this particular top US firm has a track record of moving very quickly with US associate hires in Asia.
This week, for example, my candidates overall are having about 5 interviews per day, either in-person, by phone or video conference. Some of these interviews have been with firms which were on solid hiring freeze all of ‘09 (firms that are just coming off hiring freeze are typically focusing mostly on cap markets hiring, due to the booming IPO market in HK / China). In fact we just made two HK placements at one wall street firm that was on hiring freeze from mid-‘08 through November ‘09.