Asia Pacific Legal Market Summary And Partner Moves - September 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

Summer has not slowed down the legal recruitment market. International law firms remain busy with their deal flow and this leads to continue hiring needs. The needs are arising from replacement and growth reasons. Asset management, conveyance and dispute resolution are the areas we see growth hires and corporate and banking teams include a lot of replacement hires. We foresee the recruitment market will remain busy for the rest of the year.

SINGAPORE

The Singapore market continues to garner interest from lawyers based regionally and globally as an exciting and technically challenging legal hub. Arbitration and projects work remains steady; however, some well-established teams are feeling the pressure as more firms enter an already competitive market. For growth roles (as opposed to replacement roles), we have found the hiring process slightly longer of late, which may be for several reasons. Hiring partners are waiting for confirmation of winning work for which they pitched before hiring new associates as well as the continual requests by existing MNC clients to reduce outside counsel costs. Associates with experience in white collar crime are highly sought after at many US and UK firms in the city state.

CHINA

Having recently visited our clients in China, the market remains steady with some opportunities at a few firms. Law firms are largely focused on IPO work with a Hong Kong link, so for associates looking to be at the forefront of high-profile deals, it is worth considering relocating to Beijing. Law firms are building domestic networks and tapping into opportunities to list overseas by leveraging their regional and US office connections. Other areas such as finance and IP are busy, too, both in Beijing and Shanghai. China is a good option for ambitious associates who want to build up their own client base and progress quickly in a moving market.

SEOUL

Seoul has had a small spike in opportunities from international firms in the corporate space this month. Firms are looking for excellent experience with US qualification and experience in the US at a top tier firm. However, firms are open to more junior associates joining spending time overseas to fulfil the FLC requirements before joining the Seoul office.

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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.