(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

Recruitment activities remain steady for associates. Openings are available in real estate, shipping litigation and finance. These opportunities are available to lawyers with at least 3–4 years of post-qualification experience and to those who have gained relevant experience at an international or leading Hong Kong law firm. Interview processes have become lengthier, and one can expect at least three or more rounds of interviews before securing an offer. Some positions are open to overseas candidates and firms will relocate suitable candidates to Hong Kong.  

Mainland CHINA

Recruitment activity has remained cautious in Beijing and Shanghai. The investigation position is available for lawyers with at least four years of post-qualification experience and US litigation experience. Firms are always happy to have strong lawyers to return to Beijing or Shanghai.

SINGAPORE

On a recent business trip to London, we were asked many times about how the Singapore market is doing, and our stock answer is that our market remains robust despite other global challenges.  There is particular growth in the energy and infrastructure space, and the private equity and funds areas remains strong—although our clients are being more cautious than they were 12 months ago. More generally, prices are certainly increasing in Singapore, but they appear to be all over the world, and Singapore remains an extremely attractive option for a talented young lawyer to have a meaningful commercial legal career in a dynamic market in Asia.

SINGAPORE - (Interim)

The Singapore interim market has picked up in the last month with companies looking for short-term support for a variety of reasons—from new projects to bridging gaps between permanent hires. Lawyers with experience in the banking and finance, manufacturing, real estate, and regulatory and compliance spaces are particularly in demand.

SOUTH KOREA

Although associate hiring is a bit slow at the moment in Seoul, the summer is a great time to dust off your resume and deal sheets and think about how you can raise your professional profile within the market and level-up your skills. For those of you who may be seeking new roles with law firms in the near future, it is important to have a comprehensive deal/matters list—both to show the scope of your experience and also for future conflict check purposes. Given the importance of business development to small offices of international law firms in Seoul, it is also important to maintain and strengthen relationships with current clients and develop new relationships with potential future clients. If you have free time, consider whether you can join an organization that will be useful to your career development as well. An associate who thinks like a partner is more likely to get one of the appealing roles that opens up in this market. Hopefully, we will have some new ones to discuss as we move into the fall.

JAPAN

Late summer is always a slow time for hiring in Japan and that combined with the small number of openings will make for a quiet market over the next few months—with limited exceptions being open roles for top-tier Commonwealth candidates with a capital markets or M&A background (please reach out if this is you). If relocating to Japan has been on your agenda, while this may not be the right time for a move, it is a good time to improve your Japanese—as language skills will always make you a stronger candidate in Tokyo—and build up deal experience in your practice area to the extent possible. This market will improve eventually, and time spent strengthening your skills and experience will pay off in the long run.

AUSTRALIA

With the start of the new Australian Fiscal Year, recruitment remains slow across the market despite seeing a recent uptick in demand from global and top-tier firms in Sydney and Melbourne for commercial litigators and employment lawyers. Transactional practices, such as corporate and finance, remain quiet, although a few new roles at the senior end of the market have recently opened at boutique firms. Energy lawyers, with corporate, development and finance experience, remain in demand.

Partner Moves

Office openings

• Han Kun Law Offices opens in Singapore
• Trowers & Hamlins opens in Singapore
• Holman Fenwick Willan opens in Shenzhen
• Morgan Lewis opens in Shenzhen

Partner moves are obtained from both public sources and Major, Lindsey & Africa market intelligence. The 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.