Robert here, writing from Miami, packing up for another Asia trip this weekend.

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year!! Most firms in HK / China close their doors completely all this week for the holidays.

Here are a few pressing needs that we are working on in Asia and Middle East (there are more, but don’t want to make this a job board):

Tokyo – major US firm needs Korean speaking associates in project finance / leveraged finance practice

Dubai – major US firm needs UK qualified PE / M&A senior associate

HK / China – major US firm looking for IP senior associates / counsel / partner level (from US also considered) and would consider entire groups.

Despite an over one year long recession in US and Europe there are still a lot of new major firm offices opening up in Asia and Middle East. Although times are tough now, the long-term strategy by firms continue on in what will continue to be very important major legal markets in the future. At some firms, there is a need to build up a certain critical mass in new offices and that cannot always be accomplished by internal transfers within the firm. Here are some new offices in the past approximately 6 months (there are more opening in the next few months).

Baker & McKenzie – Abu Dhabi
Ropes & Gray – Hong Kong
Akin Gump – Abu Dhabi
Weil Gotshal – Beijing
Weil Gotshal – Dubai
Curtis Mallet – Dubai
Proskauer Rose – Hong Kong
Salans – Beijing
Winston & Strawn – Hong Kong
Dechert – Beijing
Covington & Burling – Beijing
Walkers – Singapore
Goodwin Procter – Hong Kong
Holland & Knight – Abu Dhabi
Patton Boggs – Abu Dhabi
Kilpatrick Stockton – Dubai
DLA Piper – Abu Dhabi
Akin Gump – Abu Dhabi
Ashurst – Abu Dhabi
Gibson Dunn – Singapore
Herbert Smith – Abu Dhabi
Latham – Abu Dhabi
Latham – Doha
Hogan Hartson – Abu Dhabi
Freshfields – Abu Dhabi
King & Spalding – Abu Dhabi
Norton Rose – Tokyo
Norton Rose – Abu Dhabi
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge – Hong Kong
Edwards Andgell Palmer & Dodge – Tokyo
Dewey & LeBeouf – Doha
Loeb & Loeb – Beijing
Clifford Chance – Abu Dhabi

Yes, Abu Dhabi is quite the hot spot for new offices lately. More on that in a later posting…

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Although the lateral hiring market is not good in Asia right now and downright awful in the Middle East, I am looking forward to a potential uptick by the end of this first quarter. February is a key month in HK / China, as that is the busiest market, relatively speaking in Asia and ME, and for the past few months a number of firms have been eyeing February as a time when they may be able to start interviewing for specific needs again. Some firms in Asia have had a self imposed hiring freeze lately, but there are also a number of firms that have had some hiring needs for the past few months but have planned to hold off after Chinese New Year before making decisions. Some firms with needs have not been given the green light to proceed by their home offices in US or London, due to the global downturn. In February, I expect at least some of those firms to be able to start interviewing again if they do continue to have needs in a specific area.

A number of firms are looking to build their M&A practice and could use one or two new associates, but many also have a bunch of cap markets associates sitting around not working and this has made it difficult to make new hires. For the past several years in Asia, while the IPO market especially in HK / China was very lucrative and the focus of most US practices, firms naturally built up in cap markets and are now overstaffed until the many dead IPOs come back to life (last count I heard in China from a leading cap markets partner was 137, and this was in early December).

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Unfortunately, there are silent layoffs happening of cap markets associates at a number of US and British firms in Asia. These associates are in a tough spot. They were hired during a boom, when US practices in Asia did not have enough qualified candidates interviewing for urgent needs. Thus, some were hired that are no longer the perfect fit for a firm’s needs, such as not enough experience (many juniors were hires instead of mid-levels in ’06, ’07 and early ’08, due to not enough mid level candidates and urgent need for bodies for deals) or not enough Mandarin (some US practices in HK / China have changed from mostly English only attorneys to mostly native Chinese US associates within two years, whereas some have remained a mix or mostly English only). A number of these affected associates have called us and we are doing all we can to help.

In general, if you are laid off or worried about being laid off in ’09, be as pro-active as possible beforehand, not just during the 3 months notice that most associates (but not all these days). It is important to somehow stay connected to the industry, even if you wind up having to leave your firm without a new job in place. One strong suggestion I have is to apply to a top end LL.M. Tax program, such as NYU. If you are truly committed to continuing a major law firm career and have been laid off, then such an LL.M. program will help bridge the gap in your resume and keep you connected to the industry and potential firm employers. This is of course just one possible step of many to mitigate the damages of a layoff (or potential layoff) and we are happy to discuss a number of options and ideas with anyone out there who is a victim of this global economic crisis.

Here’s hoping that the Year of the Ox brings back the bull in the market!!