The legal recruitment market has picked up, and law firms continue to adopt flexible working hours. We are seeing a demand for lawyers with 1–7 years of post-qualification experience within restructuring, insolvency, finance and funds practice areas. Law firms remain happy to sponsor visa applications.
Beijing has enforced a soft lockdown to expand the COVID-19 mass testing. Shanghai, however, is looking to reopen beginning 1 June 2022. Recruitment has remained slow this month due to these lockdowns, but some firms are continuing to conduct interviews through video calls. We foresee the market will remain steady for the next couple of months with open positions at the junior level in the FCPA space and the senior level in M&A areas.
For the first time in two years, many law firms are travelling within Asia for business and hosting clients and senior leadership in Singapore. Tourists are beginning to make a comeback, and professionals have returned to offices on a 60% basis. Projects/project finance associates are still in demand, as are quality associates in finance, particularly restructuring and insolvency. However, macro-economic conditions have caused hiring partners to think more carefully before making long-term hiring decisions.
We have seen a tremendous number of opportunities for lawyers interested in consulting or project-based legal opportunities. Demand continues for interim consultants and the market is very competitive. Remote work remains a strong preference for most consultants. Consultants are also actively seeking opportunities that not only offer competitive rates but also provide more flexibility and the potential for a permanent role. While some are career-long interim lawyers, many view these substantive consulting roles as career opportunities, whether they are seeking to gain experience within a specific industry or skill set, or to transition in-house.
In light of diminishing COVID-19 cases in South Korea, the government has been reducing restrictions. It is also offering aid to neighbouring North Korea to manage its evolving health crisis. Law firms in Seoul are operating mostly business as usual, but there are some signs that the recent surge of M&A activity may be cooling off, similar to other parts of the world. Many of the opportunities for foreign-qualified corporate associates are with the leading Korean firms. Nevertheless, highly credentialed bilingual foreign-qualified associates looking to find roles at leading international firms can still find exciting opportunities.
Japan finally appears set to reopen its borders to tourists in June, although it is not yet clear whether entry will be limited to tour groups with preapproved itineraries. In any case, the country is slowly transitioning to normalcy, and the slowdown in corporate activity that we are seeing in the US largely has not impacted the Tokyo market. Firms are operating business as usual, and demand for bengoshi associates remains strong across international and Japanese firms. There are also several opportunities for US and Commonwealth-qualified lawyers, particularly with strong Japanese language skills.
June tends to see a slight decrease in recruitment activity due to firms coming up to their performance and salary reviews, but job opportunities within the private practice area remain steady. Demand in the Sydney and Melbourne markets with distinguished law firms remains strong for banking and finance and infrastructure/major project lawyers, as well as corporate/M&A lawyers with over two years of post-qualification experience. Firms continue to hire Australian-qualified lawyers, where possible; however, firms are open to sponsoring UK, New Zealand and South African-qualified lawyers who wish to relocate to Australia.
Partners |
Practice |
To |
From |
Location |
Julie Gao |
Capital Markets |
ByteDance (CEO) |
Skadden |
Hong Kong |
Crystal Chen |
Finance, Projects and Restructuring |
DLA Piper |
Linklaters |
Hong Kong |
Thomas So |
Dispute Resolution |
Grandall Law Firm |
Mayer Brown |
Hong Kong |
Matthew Bland |
Mergers & Acquisitions |
Jardine Matheson (General Counsel) |
Linklaters |
Hong Kong |
Simon Collins |
Aviation Finance |
Watson Farley & Williams |
White & Case |
Hong Kong |
Nils Eliasson |
Arbitration |
King & Spalding |
Shearman & Sterling, Hong Kong |
Singapore |
Joanna Seetoh |
Construction and Engineering Arbitration |
Harry Elias Partnership |
LVM Law Chambers |
Singapore |
Joseph Kim |
Energy and Infrastructure |
Greenberg Traurig |
Hogan Lovells |
Singapore |
William Wu |
Energy and Infrastructure |
Greenberg Traurig |
Hogan Lovells, Hong Kong (Counsel) |
Singapore |
Da Woon Jeong |
Energy and Infrastructure |
Greenberg Traurig |
Hogan Lovells, Tokyo (Associate) |
Singapore |
Yingyu Wang |
TMT and IP |
Simmons & Simmons |
Taylor Vinters Via |
Singapore |
Peng Lim |
Aviation |
Liberty Mutual (Head of Aviation Claims) |
Kennedys Law |
Singapore |
Margot King |
Real Estate |
Hamilton Locke |
Piper Alderman |
Sydney |
Brad Marland |
Real Estate |
Hall & Wilcox |
Gadens |
Brisbane |