Asia Pacific Legal Market Summary And Partner Moves - June 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

The recruitment market in Hong Kong remains steady. There are replacement opportunities available in different practice areas including dispute resolution, corporate finance, banking and finance, and FCPA sectors. It is also interesting to see that a few firms have significantly increased their salary level in order to stay competitive in the market. International law firms are aware that high transparency on salary information is important to associates. DLA Piper, for example, has published their salary banding to the market and increased the range to remain competitive. This is a great and positive influence to the firm’s branding.

SINGAPORE

Singapore continues to largely be a replacement-role market on the law firm side. The busiest areas tend to gravitate towards capital markets and banking roles at the moment, with firms being interested in associates not only from Singapore, but also from Hong Kong, India and Australia. Niche practices are also busy recruiting, particularly in the marine/shipping space. Firms are still looking for strong credentials and matching experience, so it is a very competitive market.

SEOUL

Seoul remains a steady market for the international firms looking to hire. US corporate associates at the mid-level remain the most sought after, particularly those with fluency in Korean. In terms of workload, firms are reporting that their practices are busy, and there have been some key lateral partner moves in the US supporting the practices' business development efforts.

AUSTRALIA

The market in Australia is forever changing and evolving with the most notable news of the month being the confirmed merger of national firm Henry Davis York and Norton Rose Fulbright. There are also many roles available in Australia at the moment; however, the bulk of these roles seems to be at the larger international firms and confined to mainly corporate, litigation and real estate practices. The New York market has slowed slightly due to a focus on the intake of summer interns— this is expected to last for another month or so before picking back up.

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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.