Biggest News of the Year So Far!!
February 9, 2010 by Damian
By far the biggest news story of the year so far in the legal recruitment world has just broken with the news that UK Magic Circle giant Allen & Overy is opening in Australia -
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/blogs/top_stories/archive/2010/02/07/allen-amp-overy-to-open-shop-in-australia.aspx.
This is a huge story. There have been murmurings for years about UK firms either setting up in Australia or merging with an established Australian firm (which recently just happened with the Norton Rose/Deacons merger) but the naysayers consistently said that the rewards would not justify the potential risk and that the referral arrangements that already exist between UK and Australian firms work perfectly well, thank you very much.
However, A&O obviously think differently and are jumping straight into the top tier in their chosen areas. This will make them an extremely attractive choice for UK lawyers wanting to spend some time in Australia as well as giving local lawyers the opportunity to get a Magic Circle law firm on their CV without even leaving the country. However, it does not take into account that a lot of people want to experience a different culture at the same time as furthering their career so it may not necessarily be the chosen route for many who may prefer to work for A&O in London, rather than A&O in Sydney or Perth. There is no doubt that they will be able to attract the very best graduate lawyers but time will tell whether they will be able to offer enough to keep the very best intermediate lawyers in Australia, rather than losing them offshore.
What this means for New Zealand law firms and New Zealand lawyers is a very interesting question. I would imagine that the lure of working for A&O in Australia would be very attractive to NZ lawyers but as is the case in London, only the very best will stand a chance of securing a role there.
Also, it does raise the question whether any international firms think that doing a similar thing in NZ would be a good idea. Obviously the quality of lawyer is good enough here but are the deals (and the fees) big enough? It would seem that because of the total lack of any speculation of this kind whatsoever that the answer to this question is ‘no’. The firms who have a referral relationship with A&O will be rubbing their hands. Other firms may be a little afraid!
Encouraging News From London
January 20, 2010 by Damian
I received an email from one of my colleagues in London this morning which should give those people thinking of going to London some hope.
The tenor of the email was that although it is still very difficult for an overseas lawyer to secure a position in London, some firms are now are starting to look at overseas lawyers again.
The catch is that, as it stands, you really need at least 3 years experience from a leading firm, have a work permit (i.e. do not need to be sponsored) and be on the ground in London for interview.
I realise that these criteria are reasonably hard to meet but for those that do meet them, it looks like there may be some opportunities for you at present. For those that don’t, I’m afraid that the best advice that I can give is to sit tight and wait for the market to develop further and take your chance later in the year.
If you would like to have a chat about this in more detail, feel free to give me a call!!
Interesting Articles For 2010
January 12, 2010 by Damian
I have come across a few articles recently that I thought that I should share.
The first three come from the ALB website and can be found by following this link -
http://www.au.legalbusinessonline.com/e-magazines/magazine.aspx?id=39186.
In this edition, there is an article about Kensington Swan’s decision to open an office in Abu Dhabi as well as an interview with the new Chairman at Simpson Grierson in which he talks about his plans for the future of that firm. Another very interesting article called ‘Southward Bound’ discusses the difficulties and benefits of North Island firms operating in the South Island.
Over at Lawyers Weekly, I found some very illuminating articles describing the year just past and the year just begun under the very dramatic headline of ‘2009 - The Year That Changed The Legal Profession’ :
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/news/au/features/special_reports/
Another one to have a look at, also from Lawyers Weekly, again grandly titled ‘Five Tips To Get To The Top’ gives some hints about how to best position yourself when you are thinking about changing jobs. All are pretty obvious but it is worth a look, nonetheless.
The last one for the time being gives an overview of the markets across the globe and tries to predict what locations will be attractive for lawyers in 2010 -
I am not sure whether I completely agree with some of this analysis but suffice to say, there will hopefully be more activity in these areas than there was in 2009!!
To specialise or not to specialise?
December 11, 2009 by Damian
From years of experience in overseas recruitment, the main feedback that clients give me about NZ (and Australian) lawyers is that one of the main reasons that they are so employable is because of their versatility.
Due to the nature of the market down here, few practitioners are what UK lawyers would call ’specialists’. For example, there would not be one finance lawyer in NZ who would be dedicated to only doing aviation finance. My own legal career in the UK (for what it was) was purely in tobacco litigation – I did nothing else. This degree of specialisation just does not exist in NZ firms.
Until now, allowing practitioners to specialise in London has worked. The deals are huge, sophisticated and specific so people with detailed knowledge of the subject matter are necessary. One unforeseen consequence of the GFC, if the Linklaters’ plan as laid out in The Lawyer article below works, may be that the specialist lawyer may be a thing of the past in London -
http://www.thelawyer.com/1002837.article?nl=TL-LND.
If the way of the future for London lawyers is to become generalists rather than specialists, this could have some effect on the employability of NZ lawyers in the future. If that point of difference is taken away, it will be up to NZ lawyers to come up with another selling point to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market.
Any ideas?
What’s happening in Asia?
December 3, 2009 by Damian
According to this article that I found in ALB, it looks like Asia may be the first international market to bounce back -
http://au.legalbusinessonline.com/news/analysis/analysis-good-news-for-aussie-lawyers-looking-for-taste-of-asia/38640 -
It is certainly going to be interesting to see whether the forecasts in this article are accurate. I will keep you updated.
One comment that I particularly agree with is made by the recruiter who says that at present, some employers are looking for the perfect candidate but the fact is that the perfect candidate does not exist. I think that some employers over here have fallen into this mindset and it is a difficult one to get out of. Those who are stuck in this mindset will really struggle to recruit once the market becomes candidate short again. Those who take a more pragmatic approach will find the ‘best’ candidate for the job, even though they may not be ‘perfect’.
“No Employment Market Recovery For Lawyers Until 2010″
September 23, 2009 by Damian
Have a look at this link to a very interesting article on the issue of how long it might take for the legal recuitment market to return to ‘normal’ again – http://au.legalbusinessonline.com/news/analysis/no-employment-market-recovery-for-lawyers-until-2010/36880
To be honest, the tenor of the article makes a lot of sense to me and if it is correct, then we are looking at around March/April next year before things can confidently be seen to be ‘normal’.
Much as I would like to disagree with this assessment, I think that it is probably reasonably close to the mark. Although there is an increasing amount of optimism around and a few more vacancies coming on, the market is nowhere near showing any real fluidity or new activity. To add into the mix, remember that we have the traditional Christmas/January slowdown to come as well which always puts the brakes on things.
So although the worst may be behind us, it could be another 6 months or so until we are completely out of the woods.
Rose Tinted Glasses – Don’t Make That Mistake
September 22, 2009 by Damian
It has been pretty obvious to everyone that getting a job in the last 9-12 months has been very difficult. The number of vacancies has shrunk dramatically while at the same time, the numbers and quality of applicants has increased in a similar vein. This has left some good people either out of a job or sitting very unhappily in their current one, desperately wanting to be somewhere else.
Recently, there has been a marked change in the mood around the job market and the country in general. The general consensus is that the worst is behind us and that the recovery, although it may be slow, is on its way.
I agree with this sentiment and god knows I hope that it is correct. However, I have already started to pick up a sense from people that they think that, once business confidence has been restored and the markets have stabilised, changing jobs will be as simple as sending in a CV, having a chat with a hiring manager and signing on the dotted line.
I think there is a serious case of people looking through ‘rose tinted glasses’ at the pre-credit crunch job market. I read an article in a reputable online legal magazine by a partner in a firm in Dubai who said they used to hire people purely and simply because they had the letters ‘LLB’ beside their name. Obviously he was over-simplifying things but the message that he was sending out was, in my opinion, a dangerous one.
It was not (and never will be) very easy to change jobs. Back in the ‘good old days’, I know that there were some people who secured jobs in firms who, in reality, were not strong enough for them and were completely out of their depth. However, those people were the exception, not the rule but their experience has lent creedance to the belief that changing jobs is as simple as changing one’s hairstyle.
I, like everyone else, am looking forward to a job market where people have options. A ‘normal market’ should be one where a person does not have to sit in a job that they really dislike or is unable to move locations due to a lack of suitable opportunities.
However, I think that everyone needs to get some perspective on how the market will actually look in the coming months and years. It will not be a matter of just applying for the job you want and getting it. You will still need a strong CV that showcases your skills and experience. You will still need to demonstrate that you can add significant value and that you have the potential to go far in the organisation. In other words, you will still have to work hard to get a job.
Those who are looking back through ‘rose tinted glasses’ and think that getting a job will be easy, even when the market does improve, are going to be in for a nasty surprise.
Overseas Markets Update
September 10, 2009 by Damian
The most overused phrase at the moment is ’green shoots’. I hate that phrase. (It’s like marketers talking about going for ‘low hanging fruit’ – I really hate that one.) What is wrong with asking: ’do you see any signs of recovery?’ or ‘are things getting any better?’ Why do people insist on talking about ‘green shoots’? Does no-one realise that ‘green shoots’ can get trampled on very easily? If anyone catches me using it, please feel free to slap me. Hard.
In any case, to answer the question: ‘ are things getting any better?’ I thought that it would be a good idea to give the views of colleagues of mine working in London, Australia and Asia. I will give my twopence worth on the NZ market in a separate post.
I work very closely with an agency in London and was speaking to them last week about the state of the market over there at the moment (not once was ‘green shoots’ mentioned). Their view was that even though it is still ‘incredibly tough’, the worst is almost certainly behind them. They are basing that view on the fact that they are now starting to receive instructions from firms to look for people other than litigation/insolvency/restructuring lawyers. Some firms are even going so far as to hire for their corporate or finance teams. That is the good news. The not so good news, from a NZ lawyer’s point of view, is that these firms are only looking for locally qualified (preferably Oxbridge educated), Magic Circle lawyers who have not been made redundant – that is quite a tight brief.
As such, if we are to look to the future, the first ‘cabs off the rank’ (a cliche I don’t hate as much as ‘green shoots’ or ‘low hanging fruit’) are going to be exactly the type of lawyers mentioned in the previous paragraph – the absolute superstar candidates. When we are at the point when this candidate pool has been exhausted, I think that the firms will then turn to the well quailfied, well educuated, solid City lawyers – ‘the safe pairs of hands’ (the cliches are piling up now). Only after this pool has been emptied will, I believe, the firms start to look at really high quality overseas lawyers but it really will only be those at the ‘top of their game’ over here (that’s another one to add to the list). Then it will go to good quality UK lawyers and then to good quality overseas lawyers and so on and so on.
In other words, there is going to have to be quite an uplift in vacancies in the London market before overseas lawyers will start to get a look in because there are plenty of locally qualifieds to get through first. When this will happen is anyone’s guess but if you asked me to look into my ‘crystal ball’ (another one), I don’t think that there will be many overseas lawyers securing positions in London until mid next year. I hope that I am wrong about that but it will take an incredible turnaround in fortunes for it to happen any time before then.
It is a similar story in Australia. The market there was hammered in the last year but it seems to have ‘flat-lined’ (I promise that will be the last one) and to be on the improve. Again, it will take some time for NZ lawyers to secure positions over there in numbers as there are a lot of good quality Australian qualified lawyers to be slotted in first before employers will start looking at Kiwis. However, the economy over there has rebounded very well so hopefully Australia may be a viable option, if not this year, maybe early next.
Which leaves us with Asia which may well be at the forefront of recruitment activity in the very near future. My colleagues over there told me that they are ‘very busy’ at the moment, admittedly with a lot of insolvency/restructuring work but again they are coming across some corporate/finance roles as well.
This view is backed up by this article from the Asian Legal Business magazine – http://legaljobscentre.com/career-tips/37016/details.aspx although be warned, it does mention ‘green shoots’.
Again with the good news, comes the not so good. The not so good news is that getting a job in Asia has never been easy and only those candidates who have worked in a top tier firm, have excellent academics and at least three years could hope to get a job in a good market. In a tighter market, this quality threshold has been raised even higher to include language skills as being a more important consideration and candidates’ motivations for wanting to move to Asia will be more closely monitored than ever before.
So, all in all, things are still very tough overseas and there is still a lot of correction needed in the market but if you can stick it out for another 6-12 months, your chances of securing something in London, Australia or Asia will be much better than they are now.
Fingers crossed that those ‘green shoots’ continue to grow.
SLAP.