Kinney Asia Teamwork / Two Special M&A Opportunities (HK and SHG)

Robert here, writing from Hong Kong. The past week has been very busy, thus it has taken a couple of weeks to put up another post.

The number of US associate openings continues to increase in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Greater China, and especially in now-busy capital markets groups. Two particularly special and urgent openings are for M&A 4th to 7th year associates for Shanghai and Hong Kong. The Shanghai opening, a private equity-focused position, does not require Mandarin fluency, but the Hong Kong opening, a more general M&A spot, does. I consider these openings very special opportunities for a number of reasons, including firm, supervising partner, and the realistic partnership track available in both of them. I am not going to go into great detail here, but suffice to say that I believe these are A+ positions and arguably among the best private equity/M&A spots in all of Asia. They are both extremely selective openings, will be filled soon, and the new hires will likely come from a top 10 US firm, most likely from NYC. We know both supervising partners very well and of course we are happy to fill you in on the details. I am cutting this Asia trip shorter than planned for some business in NYC next week, so can also meet in person with qualified and interested persons.

Last week, we made another placement of a US associate in Hong Kong (continuing a nice placement run of the last few months in Hong Kong and Greater China) and moved very close to placements (offers in hand) of a US partner, a US counsel and two more US associates in Hong Kong. Those successes were all expected, as they have been in the works for some time.

Robert and I spent most of last week together in Hong Kong meeting with partner-level candidates and clients. Many of these meetings were set up by our US and Asia-based recruiting back office. This week the focus is more on associate and firm client meetings. It is truly a team effort of our Asia group that allows us to have the privilege of representing so many very impressive senior attorneys, and remarkable people, in Asia. The meetings happen from three sources: a) already established personal relationships (past career consulting or recruiting for partner’s firm); b) referrals; and c) our impressive back office team of recruiters based in the US and Asia.

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Issues in Partner Recruiting: Digging Deeper

Partner recruiting season is never closed, and there’s normally no bag limit. Nevertheless, as new sharing ratios get set to be announced over the coming months, this is the time of year that many ultimately fruitful and plenty of fruitless discussions between law firms and potential lateral partners begin. The meat of these discussions varies little, whether in Asia, the US, or Europe. Unfortunately, many of the partners who are looking at their options could be saved a lot of time for themselves and the firms that they are considering with some introspection. Particularly in this über-cautious economic environment, prospects for marginal players are slim. With this in mind, since many of our readers are partners and some of our associate readers ultimately will be partners, it seems that now is as good a time as any to discuss what makes a partner a viable lateral candidate.

Every firm asks for some of the same data points which give them information about the financial picture of a lawyer’s practice, not merely billed hours. All of the relevant, basic economic factors can be determined using three pieces of information: personal billable hours for each team member, working attorney collections for each, and billing and/or originating attorney collections for the partners. From these pieces of information, one can derive hourly rate, revenue per lawyer, and most other relevant raw data. But each situation is different and distilling the data to these simple figures is rarely enough. One example (not necessarily from Asia, but very possibly…) may illustrate the point.

The candidate team was from an international law firm. The lead partner came to us with a sizable book of business and a loyal team. He was around 50 years in age. His skill set, the size of the business, his ability to move it to several of our client firms, and his well-constructed team all looked promising because it folded well into the business plan of a couple of our client firms, at least tangentially.

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

HK / China Market – June ’09

Robert here. Apologies for the delay in getting this post up. I just returned Tuesday from a few weeks of hectic work travel – Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York – and have been slammed the first couple of days back in the office. It was the typical non-stop meetings for 16 days (with both candidates and firms), plus I also made a few associate placements in HK (two M&A and one cap markets) earlier this month.

We are representing a large number of both US associate and partner candidates in Asia now, especially in HK / China, and our entire team is being kept quite busy. Robert and I traveled to Hong Kong the past couple of weeks mainly in order to help some of our partner candidates pitch their skill set and books to their target firms, as well as help firms attract key partner additions they need.

I plan to return to HK / China later this summer for a longer six week trip, as well, after a short Dubai trip.  Yuliya is in Russia all summer working in that market (things are starting to pick up deal flow wise in Russia, but it will be a while before firms there start hiring again).

We have a few urgent associate openings right now in HK / China (many more slower moving openings, but these are the most urgent):

1) 5 to 10 years cap markets US associate / counsel, fluent Mandarin, Hong Kong
2) 7+ years energy / project finance US associate / counsel, fluent Mandarin, Hong Kong / China
3) 4 to 7 years PE / M&A associate, Mandarin preferred, Hong Kong
4) 7+ years IP / TMT (litigation and transactional experience needed) associate / counsel / junior partner, Mandarin fluent, Hong Kong

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Will you be a Foreign Lawyer or Overseas Lawyer in Hong Kong?

Robert here. Having arrived back in the US last night, I’m sitting up at 3 am now reflecting on the results of another outstanding visit to Hong Kong. Several of us were in town and able to meet with dozens of people while there, some of whom are candidates and some of whom are representatives of law firms and some private equity and hedge funds for whom we have conducted attorney searches in the past. Robert’s spent an extra couple of days working on some additional projects we have in place and will be leaving tomorrow. Law Society of Hong Kong

In a nutshell, and while this is not without some caveats, we believe that things are picking up strongly at this point in China. By the end of the year, while total number of international attorneys hired in Asia will not be as high as 2007 or even 2008, we expect to have had our best year in Asia yet on a revenue basis by a long shot. Just in the last few weeks we have confirmed eight attorneys placed in Greater China and we anticipate being able to confirm another five placements (touch wood) in the next several weeks. Now, here are some of the caveats:

1. Private equity funds, on the whole, are still seeing reduced deal flow. They report law firm interest in negotiated deals, including busted deal reductions, is significantly higher than in the past. Much of the deal work is restructuring related as they try to mop up the balance sheets of some struggling portfolio companies.

2. Some firms report that, while M&A work has been looking up overall, it’s been hurt recently by the relative surge in stock prices, which has made deals more expensive in many cases and caused some firms to temporarily shelve their plans.

3. The market is changing so that local qualification is becoming a plus factor for any candidate looking to work in Hong Kong.

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

State of the Market, March 26, ’09

Robert here. Although the lateral market in Asia continues to be very slow, as expected in the downturn, we have seen a substantial upturn in interviewing of our candidates in Asia recently. For example, currently the following of my associate candidates are actively interviewing in Asia, each at multiple firms (there are others with single interviews):

*mid-level cap markets associate (Mandarin fluent) from HK interviewing in HK
senior cap markets associate from HK (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in HK
*mid-level PE / M&A associate from US interviewing in HK
*mid-level M&A associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in HK
*senior M&A / cap markets associate from US (Korean fluent) interviewing in HK
*mid-level project finance associate from US (Korean fluent) interviewing in Tokyo
*mid-level M&A associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in HK
*mid-level M&A associate from HK (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in Beijing
*mid-level IP associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in Beijing
*mid-level project finance associate from US interviewing in Abu Dhabi
*junior M&A associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in Beijing and HK
*mid-level funds associate from US interviewing in HK

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Partner Chances in Asia: You Got Any? (Part 2)

This is Robert again following up on last week’s introduction to the sort of people who become partners in firms in Asia. Before breaking down the specific categories of people who make partner as promised, it may be helpful to provide the common threads that connect all the people we have gotten to know in Asia who are successful partners in their firms. In the first place, whether you are a US/UK native, Chinese, Japanese, or some other nationality, there is no one we know in Asia who is a partner in a major law firm who does not have above average people and cultural skills. When we meet partners who may be candidates at law firm clients for lateral partner, we rate them on several criteria: language skill, legal skill (as evidenced by the type of work, clients, and our gut), client following, and people/cultural skill, each on a scale of one to five. If we can’t rate a person a four or five in each of these categories, we don’t view them as viable candidates for partner placement. Our experience at this sort of rating has been pretty successful. I can think of one candidate off of the top of my head whom we rated a five on the language and legal skills categories, but only a 3 and a 1, respectively, on the other two categories: client following and people/cultural skill. We did not work with him but he was hired as a junior partner by a firm that is a rung or two down on the league tables and does not get first grab at the better candidates. He did not work out in that position so far.

Clearly the client following and people/cultural skills are intertwined: people who are nerds normally don’t have many clients. The fact is that in Asia there are very few clients who do not expect to have personal relationships with their attorneys. Even the most high end firms have to work hard to maintain client relationships. So, if you’re a dork and can’t stomach the concept of selling your services every day, don’t expect to make partner in Asia on the basis of working for institutional clients.

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Partner Chances in Asia: You Got Any?

Robert here. Loyal readers of our blog will have noticed that I tend to remain in the background here. The truth is that Robert really is an outstanding recruiter, and I prefer to have him out in front of our associate recruitment efforts in Asia. After seven years of recruiting, four years in Asia, my recruiting interest is primarily in assisting partners. My practice dovetails with that of Robert and our other recruiters since satisfied partners continue to have needs at the associate level for many years after we place them and they tend to hire us to fill those needs. Luckily for us, we’ve been involved in more than our share of partner recruitment successes. I’m very proud of what we have done in Asia but I’m happy to have Robert doing most of the direct work with associates.

It seems to me that as a sort of diversion from our usual intense focus in this column on matters that pertain to associate candidates’ immediate interests, some of you actually still want to be partner in a law firm and might benefit from knowing a few things about the process before arriving. Who makes partner at firms in Asia compared to US counterparts, for example? Are your chances better or worse as a result of moving to Asia? And what will the future be for those who succumb to the allure of an Asian career and actually “succeed” in a law firm by becoming partner?

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

China Recovery in ’09

Robert here. As promised, in this post we will provide some basic evidence of encouraging signs that China’s economy could recover in ’09.

As mentioned in previous AC posts and comments, we are, naturally, in frequent conversations with law firm partners and other business leaders in Asia, and the prevailing opinion, even from the most conservative and pessimistic, is that the major law firm deal flow in China could recover somewhat, if not yet to previous recent boom levels, by second half 2009 and that 2010 will likely be a good year. Keep in mind that the downturn hit China about one year after the US markets and it will likely recover well ahead of the US markets.

The Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, Dr. Stephen Roach, has predicted recently that China’s economy will recover by the second half of 2009. In contrast, Roach predicts that the U.S. is only 20% through its deleveraging cycle and it will be a number of years before adjustments are complete. Merrill Lynch & Co., Hong Kong, economist Lu Ting: “China looks set to be the first major economy to recover from the current global meltdown.”

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

The Asia Chronicles: A Few Urgent Needs / New Offices / Better Lateral Market in First Quarter? / Layoffs

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).

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Patience Required for Asia / Middle East Job Search in First Half ’09

Robert here. I am writing from Miami, where I am recovering from another Gators BCS title. It has been a few weeks since we have posted here, due to the holidays and then being slammed upon return to work. There has also been a tremendous amount of partner level recruiting that we have been pre-occupied with in Asia. We will be pumping out two posts per week from here on out.

More >>

Tags:  Asia | Hong Kong

Sign In

 

Remember Me

Forgot password?
Register

Reset Password



 

Sign In

Register