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The Asia Chronicles: Golden Opportunities for Native Chinese Senior Cap Markets Associates

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[Ed. note: This post is authored by the Asia Recruiting Team at Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

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Senior cap markets associates at top US firms who are native Chinese have never been as marketable in HK / China as they are today. While such persons have over the past five years always had attractive HK /China options at US and UK firms, as well as in-house, in ’10 we have seen these opportunities expand and improve (more clear shot to partner opportunities than usual) significantly. Further, this may be a relatively small window of time, one to two years perhaps, where these clear shot to partner positions are available in such relative abundance (a handful available at one time, versus zero to one usually at any given time).

To clarify, a clear shot to partner opportunity is one where a business case already exists at a new hire’s new firm for that person to make equity partner. In other words, there is already an equity partner slot open and pegged for such new hire. Of course the senior associate / counsel / salary partner will have to perform, but there is already plenty of deals for that person to execute and the only variable (baring a catastrophe in the market) to making equity partner is that person’s performance, rather than the many variables outside of one’s control that almost always come into play for equity partner promotion (even in the most realistic and strong partnership tracks, there is most usually not already a business case for a new hire to make partner before he / she joins the firm and the business case can be in part made by the new hire’s performance, but also even more usually relies on supervising partners’ and / or new hire’s ability to expand the current practice).

There are a growing number of US cap markets practices in HK / China that have very strong deal flow (emanating from the IPO boom over the past year in HK / China), but are missing a senior native Chinese associate / counsel / junior partner to both execute deals and maintain existing client relations. In many cases in HK / China, top US cap markets groups do not have Chinese partners and although such groups’ partners are market leaders and deal makers, they could use a rising senior associate / counsel to lean on who happens to be native Chinese. The candidates that fill such roles today are being handed one of the leading keys to their new firm’s China practice, in that they are being given both the deals to execute and a leading role in the existing client relations. The former is of course a pre-requisite to having partnership and top in-house senior roles, but the latter is a rare special opportunity that gives a rising attorney a lot of leverage both in the market at large and at his / her current firm. As top US firms are building HK practices and top UK firms are expanding US practices, having a stellar native Chinese senior US associate / counsel on board is more important today than ever before.

As these rare roles fill up, it is of course unlikely that one of these US practices will need to make a similar hire in the next few years. Sure, such groups will over the next few years hire a similarly qualified senior associate / counsel, but such person will not have the same clear shot to partnership opportunity given to the hire being made today (sure, such future hires can make partner, but will not join new firm with clear shot). Typically, in HK / China there are between zero and one such clear shot to partnership opportunities, but today there are five+ and we expect there to continue to be a handful of such opportunities going forward for the next year.

Some of the clear shot to partnership opportunities are geared more for senior associates / counsels who have been at top Wall St. firms in China for the past few years, whereas others are open to senior associates / counsels who have spent their entire career at a top firm in NYC or other major Western market.

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Some of these roles can be had by persons with a mix of M&A and cap markets, as well. As for native Chinese senior M&A associates, there are similar M&A clear shot to partnership roles available, but in smaller number. That may change as the M&A market improves and firms look to expand in that area in HK / China.

We have recently made four senior US cap markets clear shot to partner placements in HK / China and are working on a handful of others at present. It is through these efforts this year and in previous years that we have become uniquely familiar with this type of job search and very selective and strategic recruiting. Of course, there is much more very specific information and advice that we simply can’t give in a public forum, such as our Asia Chronicles. I am happy to discuss these opportunities, and the market in general, with qualified persons by phone in great detail.

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