Asia Pacific Legal Market Summary And Partner Moves - November 2017

(As excerpted from our monthly Associate Newsletter - Asia Pacific)

Associate Newsletter – Asia Pacific is a monthly resource that reports current legal market news, trends, partner moves and active opportunities in the Asia Pacific legal markets.

Legal Market Summary

HONG KONG

Though year-end is approaching, the recruitment market has not slowed down and we foresee that recruitment activity will remain active for the rest of the year. FCPA, corporate and finance are the most active sectors. Work remains busy for most firms, and partners are positive about their work pipeline for early next year. Some senior movements have also triggered hiring at the associate level.

CHINA

Shanghai has been busy! We visited Shanghai in early November to meet with clients and candidates, and it seems that most firms are positive about their work pipeline and are recruiting associates. Associates who have experience in the U.S. are in high demand, as are locally qualified candidates. Busy areas include FCPA and corporate M&A. There are opportunities across both UK and US firms in the market. Beijing remains steady and needs mainly arise due to searching for a departure replacement.

SINGAPORE

The Singapore market is most active in banking & finance and US capital markets, with a small spike in opportunities occurring over the past month at the big international law firms. Candidates with on-the-ground or India experience are particularly interesting to the law firm market. Unfortunately, international arbitration and corporate remain relatively slow in comparison. To make a lateral move to an international firm in such a small market, associates need to be getting the best work exposure they can, preferably in a broad practice context.

KOREA

Korea remains steady with most opportunities focused around Corporate M&A and private equity. There is still a strong preference for US-qualified talent with fluency in Korean looking to return to Seoul. English fluency is important for drafting and is sometimes preferred over Korean fluency.

AUSTRALIA

Sydney is busy across real estate, finance and corporate with most large firms having needs at different levels across these three practice areas. There are also a good amount of roles within IP/TMT and investment funds across top-tier firms.
Melbourne has seen an uptick in demand for real estate lawyers almost across the board with corporate and finance not too far behind. Construction litigation and environment & planning are two further areas where demand is being noted.
Demand for legal talent in Perth is high with global and top-tier law firms looking to hire associate and senior associate-level candidates across their real estate, construction and corporate practice groups.

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Recent Partner Moves in Asia Pacific

These listed partner moves are obtained from both public sources and Major, Lindsey & Africa. This list is not intended to represent Major, Lindsey & Africa as the consultancy involved in the moves, although some moves may have been brokered by Major, Lindsey & Africa.