The Asia Chronicles: Hong Kong / China Openings; Hiring Boom In First Quarter ’11?

we have many current openings for Mandarin fluent cap markets and M&A US associates (too numerous to list here). As the year winds to a close, we wanted to list in one place a description of some of our more unusual openings for US associates at top US and UK firms in Hong Kong / China.

[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.]

We’re here with a quick post before the New Year holiday. As you know from our recent posts, Robert Kinney has continued his pattern this year of traveling to Hong Kong / China to meet personally with clients and learn of openings (six trips each this year – ouch). Alexis Lamb of course is permanently based in our Hong Kong office and Yuliya Vinokurova travels to Asia periodically from her base in Russia. As a result of our availability to firms and more importantly our success in placing more US attorneys in Asia than any other recruiting firm, we are on top of many US associate openings at present in Hong Kong/China.

As you know from recent posts, we have many current openings for Mandarin fluent cap markets and M&A US associates (too numerous to list here). As the year winds to a close, we wanted to list in one place a description of some of our more unusual openings for US associates at top US and UK firms in Hong Kong / China:

Hong Kong – native Korean fluent private equity fund formation US associate; 2 to 5 years experience

Shanghai – native Mandarin fluent IP transactional US associate; mid to senior level

Hong Kong or Singapore – US securities / high yield / M&A mix US associate (English only ok); 4 to 7 years experience (the successful candidate will have his/her choice of Hong Kong or Singapore location)

Hong Kong – native Korean fluent private equity M&A US associate; 2 to 6 years experience

Sponsored

Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai – native Mandarin fluent US senior capital markets associate for counsel or partner role (several openings); very senior associate with top firm experience in China and NYC preferred

Hong Kong – native Korean fluent project finance US associate; 3 to 6 years experience

Beijing – native Mandarin fluent finance associate; junior to mid-level (multiple openings)

Hong Kong – leveraged / acquisition finance; Hong Kong, UK or US qualification; Mandarin preferred; 2 to 5 years experienced

Hong Kong – acquisition finance US associate / counsel (English only fine, but Mandarin a nice bonus); senior associate / counsel level

Sponsored

Hong Kong – US project finance associate; Mandarin preferred; 3 to 6 years experience

Beijing – native Mandarin fluent project finance senior US attorney; counsel to partner level

Beijing – native Mandarin fluent fund formation / corporate mix US associate; 2 to 5 years experience

Hong Kong – fund formation US associate (Mandarin preferred, but English only ok); 2 to 8 years experience (several openings)

Hong Kong – cap markets US associate (English only ok); mid-level

Hong Kong – native Mandarin fluent banking / finance US associate; 2 to 5 years experience (several openings)

Hong Kong – FCPA / white collar / litigation US associate (Mandarin preferred but not required); mid-level experience

Hong Kong – US or UK qualified regulatory/anti-corruption associate (English-only OK); mid to senior level experience

Hong Kong – native Korean fluent US cap markets / M&A associates; junior to senior levels (several openings)

Hong Kong – native Korean fluent M&A US associate; 2 to 4 years experience

Hong Kong – senior cap markets US associate (English only ok) for Pan Asia practice with strong Philippines and India focus; 5 to 9 years experience

Hong Kong (and eventually Seoul) – native Korean fluent US senior cap markets / M&A associate for counsel or partner role (multiple openings)

Hong Kong – Mandarin fluent senior banking US associate; 6 to 10 years of experience

Hong Kong – Mandarin fluent derivatives and structured finance US associate; mid to senior level

Hong Kong – Mandarin fluent energy / LNG US associate; 3 to 5 years experience

The US and UK biglaw associate lateral hiring market in Hong Kong / China continues to pick up. We are expecting a mini-boom of US associate hiring in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore during the first quarter of ’11. The reason is twofold: a) Hong Kong / China has been a very busy market for more than a year now and most firms are understaffed; and b) numerous US and UK firms in Hong Kong / China have, for the first time since mid ’08, a full “green light” from their global firm management to make US associate lateral hires.

Some of our clients, for example, were able to make one hire here and there during ’10 in Hong Kong / China, but were not able to obtain a full green light to hire as needed by any means (getting clearance from firm management to make each hire was understandably a long process, due to the still shaky US and Europe markets). Recently, some of these firms have been given clearance to hire multiple US associates in Hong Kong / China, in some cases as many as 7 to 10, with most top US and UK firms planning to hire at least 2 in early ’11. While the hiring markets in US and Europe are still shaky, firms’ global management can no longer ignore the long run of heavy deal flow in Hong Kong / China and their offices and partners in the region being understaffed. Naturally, in an end of calendar year period, where budgets for the following year are figured out, the full green lights for Hong Kong / China lateral hiring are coming in bunches recently.

The interview process in ’10 in Asia has been mostly long-winded due to the abundance of great candidates on the market, most firms having to go through a long process internally to get clearance to give an offer, and firms knowing their competitors are also not moving quickly with offers. In the first quarter of ’11, we are expecting firms in Hong Kong / China to move a lot quicker with US associate hiring process and also be a little less selective because of the larger number of openings putting pressure on the market. Some partners have had serious staffing pressures throughout ’10 and they are going to want to hire quickly now that they have the clearance to do so.

If you would like to learn more about these or other openings and / or the Asia markets in general, as always please feel free to contact us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com.

We would like to wish all of our readers a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!