In this fifth installment of the Asia Chronicles, we continue with our theme from last week. You’ve decided that you want to practice law in Asia… So now what?
Many people, including the Asia Corporate Lawyers, started law school thinking that they might someday like to work in Asia, but didn’t understand how to achieve that goal or what kind of work such a career would really involve. As 1Ls, convinced that law practice was all about not confusing impleader and interpleader, we had vague ideas of becoming jet-setting international arbitrators or prosecutors for INTERPOL. As 2Ls, our job search was conducted in the same spirit of blissful ignorance, as we simply printed out the Vault prestige rankings and eliminated any firm that did not have an Asian office (allowing us the pleasure of summarily rejecting Wachtell), giving extra points to lower-ranked firms with strong international presence. We still shudder to think that one of our most coveted offers at the time was Coudert Brothers, as it had 28 offices worldwide (Hanoi, Jakarta and Almaty, oh my!).
Now, as sadder but wiser mid-level corporate associates, we hope to enlighten job-seeking law students or lateral attorneys with some hard-won advice when it comes to choosing a law firm with the goal of someday making it to Asia:
1. Number of international offices does not equal stronger international practice or more opportunities for American lawyers to work abroad. When selecting law firms that you want to interview with, don’t just look at where they have offices; also look at who is working at those offices. Check the attorney roster on the website. Are the only U.S.-qualified lawyers in the firm partners, with most or all of the associates being foreign-qualified attorneys? Does it seem that most or all of the associates are native speakers of the local language? If you don’t see many attorneys with backgrounds similar to yours, there’s a good chance that the firm won’t be able to use you in that office.
2. Is the firm a “franchise” firm, or one with a uniform and centralized structure? Firms vary in the way in which they manage their international offices. Certain firms, like the top New York firms, are fairly involved in the management of their overseas operations. Payroll and hiring in Asia at these firms all run through New York at some point. For other firms, the international offices act more like self-contained units.
Why does this matter? Little things like technology upgrades/solutions and expense reimbursements may take longer or be more frustrating to deal with at New York-centric firms. On the other hand, a less integrated firm may not offer its lawyers the opportunity to easily access the resources of the entire firm.
3. Should you work for a British firm? Many British law firms have historically been involved in the Asia market longer than their U.S. counterparts. This may mean that some British firms have a broader or more established practice in your area of interest. You should be aware, though, that there are distinct cultural differences between British and U.S. firms. For starters, U.S. lawyers working at British firms in Asia are usually compensated on a different (higher) payscale than their colleagues at the same firm, which can lead to some friction between the U.S. and non-U.S. lawyers. As a U.S. lawyer at a British firm, you may also be completely shut out from certain types of deals. For example, in the capital markets realm, U.S. lawyers for British firms work mostly on the limited Rule 144A/Regulation S aspects of securities offerings. British firms would almost never be hired to work on U.S. IPO mandates.
For some perspective on these points, as usual, we turned to Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting. According to Evan, “The U.S. prestige rankings of firms, although important for any lateral candidate to consider, do not necessarily carry over to Asia, as many variables are involved in whether a firm is well-positioned in a particular Asia region. Also, the length of time an office has been in place and the number of attorneys in an office can be misleading with regard to how established a U.S. firm is in an Asia market and its future potential there. Some other important factors to consider are a firm’s expansion plans in the region, whether there is a senior partner in place who is well-connected in the country at issue, and the quality of support in the U.S. for primary practice areas.”
Robert adds, “Keep in mind that most firms are structured such that if an associate is well-regarded and his or her practice group in the U.S. is busy, an internal move out to Asia is not likely to be supported by the partners immediately responsible for that associate, so a lateral move may be necessary anyway.” Thus, according to Evan, “it may not be prudent for a law student to try to choose a U.S. office based in large part on a potential down-the-road internal move to Asia. Relevant training is more important.”
Regarding the “British vs. American” debate, Evan points out that he knows U.S. groups within the British firms that are thriving, making their own hiring and partnership decisions, and a great choice for the right candidate. At the same time, he says, “there are a couple of the top U.K. firms whose first question to us is sometimes whether a candidate is expecting to get a U.S. salary and housing allowance. It’s those firms where I think the cultural gulf is wider.”
So how can you tell where you will find a fit? According to Robert, “It is often the case that looking at the website bios of attorneys at a firm can give you some notion of who might be willing to consider you. But we also have clients who are looking to add a different sort of lawyer to the mix of attorneys within their firm. These days we are seeing clients transfer attorneys from their U.S. offices because they are underutilized there. The attorneys that they transfer sometimes have completely different backgrounds from what might be considered ideal by the partners in the office they transfer to.”
Next week we will discuss a question that confronts many law students and junior associates thinking of working in Asia. Is it better to go straight out of law school, or to get a few years of experience practicing in the U.S.?
You know where to find us: asiacorporatelawyers at gmail dot com.
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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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