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The Asia Chronicles: Can You Go Home Again?

Thursday, June 5, 2008 11:55 AM - By Asia Corporate Lawyers

Tokyo Japan Shinjuku.jpgIn prior installments of the Asia Chronicles, we’ve discussed the pros and cons of working as an American attorney in Asia, how to choose a law firm to work for, and the importance of language skills. Thus far we have been focusing on how to get over to Asia, but many of you have also been asking: “What happens if I want to come back?”

While most of the Asia Corporate Lawyers have sworn that we’re never going to work anywhere else (as Biglaw attorneys at least), we didn’t always know that we were going to want to stay here in Asia indefinitely. As brand-new associates, we worried that if we came out too early in our careers or spent too much time here, we might somehow fall behind our U.S. peers, be permanently labeled the “Asia” guys, or even be left with no career options beyond delivering pizzas upon returning to America. But it turns out there was no need to worry; in fact, we think that in some ways we are getting better training and experience than we would have in New York.

Let’s get one thing straight from the beginning: American attorneys in Asia only practice U.S. law, not local law (unless they also happen to be admitted to the local bar), so fundamentally they work with the same laws and regulations as they would in the U.S. If local law enters into a deal, then local counsel will be hired to advise on it. So while U.S. attorneys in Asia may pick up some knowledge about local laws in passing, and even informally advise on it, their main task is to advise on U.S. law, just as their counterparts in the U.S. do. Most commonly, they will advise on U.S. federal securities laws and New York contract law and, to a lesser extent, U.S. tax law and state corporate laws. Of course, much of an attorney’s work has nothing to do with the law, and U.S. lawyers in Asia also spend much of their time drafting and reviewing documents, conducting due diligence, and generally protecting their clients’ interests.

So if the work and the laws are basically the same, what is different about working in Asia?

Read more, below the fold.

1. Clients in Asia are often less sophisticated than American clients about U.S. laws.

Compared with our colleagues in the U.S., who work mostly with U.S. and European clients, the Asia Corporate Lawyers often find ourselves having to explain concepts and procedures that are common knowledge among Western businesspeople but unfamiliar to Asian clients. While this can be challenging and sometimes frustrating, it has forced us to learn more about the basic practice of corporate law than we might have by doing routine, well-oiled deals out of New York.

2. Junior associates tend to get more responsibility in Asia than they would in the U.S. and to work more closely with senior attorneys and clients.

While we hear that our peer associates in New York and L.A. spend their first couple of years mostly relegated to due diligence or document review, the Asia Corporate Lawyers were all given challenging assignments almost as soon as we arrived. Offices in Asia tend to be small, and when things get busy, everyone is expected to step up to the plate. While the large U.S. offices may have the resources to staff several people on a deal, in Asia it is usually just a partner, a senior associate and a junior associate. Even as first years, we were already drafting agreements, opinions and disclosure, and we regularly participated in client meetings and phone calls. We definitely felt overwhelmed at times, but it forced us to learn quickly, and we skipped over a lot of the drudgery that junior associates must often suffer through.

3. “New York experience” is no longer the sine qua non of a valuable U.S. corporate lawyer.

When we were law students thinking of careers in Asia, we were almost universally advised to get a few years of “New York experience” before venturing overseas. The sentiment seemed to be that foreign markets, especially in Asia, were much less sophisticated than those in New York, that very little training was available in foreign offices, and that starting a career in a foreign office would make achieving partnership much more difficult. We don’t have the space (or brainpower) to discuss the rapid globalization of capital markets and the growth and reform of Asian economies, but suffice it to say that these phenomena, combined with vast progress in long-distance communications, have made the practice of law in Tokyo, Singapore or Hong Kong far more similar to that in New York or London than it was even five years ago.

Our recruiter friends, Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, confirmed that we would be very marketable if we wanted to return to the states. According to Evan, “the biggest problem placing you in New York would be the relatively slack market in New York of late. It would not have anything to do with lack of experience. Ironically, a U.S. associate with good deal flow at a top U.S. or British firm in Asia can in many cases be more marketable in major U.S. markets upon their return from Asia than if they had not moved to Asia in the first place. Most top U.S. firms are going to place a high value on top-end deal experience in Asia, as well as a rising associate having expertise in both U.S. and Asia markets, especially considering that the China and U.S. economies may be decoupling anyway. Further, it is widely recognized in major law firms that U.S. associates in high-performing overseas offices typically are on a higher learning curve and handle more responsibility than their same class colleagues in U.S. markets.”

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Kinney Recruiting has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years.

[Disclosure: Kinney is the sponsor of this post.]

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