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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.

* * * * * * *

Recent Partner Moves in Asia Pacific

Partners

Practice

To

From

Location

Joe Tam

Banking

Zhong Lun

Mayer Brown JSM

Hong Kong

Douglas Freeman

International Private Equity

Goodwin Procter

Paul Hastings

Hong Kong

Victor Chen

International Private Equity

Goodwin Procter

Paul Hastings

Hong Kong

Winnie Chow

Family Law

CRB

Hampton, Winter and Glynn

Hong Kong

Jain Ruskin Brown

Family Law

CRB

Hampton, Winter and Glynn

Hong Kong

Helen Colquhoun

Employment

DLA Piper

Withers (Special Counsel)

Hong Kong

Alice Huang

Fund Formation

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

Fangda Partners

Hong Kong

Phillip Georgiou

Arbitration

GPS Legal

Baker Botts

Hong Kong

Sonny Payne

Arbitration

GPS Legal

Baker Botts (Special Counsel)

Hong Kong

Brett Stewien

Corporate

GPS Legal

Addleshaw Goddard

Hong Kong

Shobna Chandran

Litigation

Dentons Rodyk & Davidson

Clifford Chance

Singapore

Bree Miechel

Energy and Natural Resources

Reed Smith

Simmons & Simmons

Singapore

Lim Tong Chuan

Dispute Resolution

Dispute Resolution

Tan Peng Chin

Singapore

Stephen Pak

Transactions

Squire Patton Boggs

Yulchon

Seoul

Kwon Oh-sung

Shite Collar Criminal Defense

Yoon & Yang

Uijeongbu District Prosecutor's Office (Chief Prosecutor)

Seoul

Yoon Hee-sik

Shite Collar Criminal Defense

Yoon & Yang

Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office (Deputy Chief Prosecutor)

Seoul

Abhilekh Verma

Corporate Commercial

Kochhar & Co (Senior Partner)

PAV Law Offices

Bengaluru

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.

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