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Asia In-house Market

Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and increasingly, the centres of Shanghai and Beijing are where a vast majority of Investment banks, Asset Managers and Multi-nationals locate their Asian headquarters. Lawyers within these organizations tend to have regionally focused responsibility resulting in a diverse and interesting workload. The Asia Pacific region goes from strength to strength with the powerhouse economies of China and India leading the way for the world’s investments and expansion. As more and more businesses expand their operations in Asia, legal departments are being established or expanding at a very fast pace. The past couple of years have been categorized by a marked increase in instructions for 'first time' counsel to support either local businesses or head up the first legal function within the region for a diverse range of clients.

The opportunities for overseas lawyers to move into in-house roles in Asia are primarily in the following areas:

• Investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers and financial services institutions are particularly busy within the fields of Fixed Income, Equities, Derivatives, Capital Markets, Securities, Funds and Compliance. Interest within banks is high for lawyers with experience in structured finance & securitization; debt capital markets; derivatives, structured products; funds and compliance – both investment banking and funds related.
• Private Wealth Management – servicing the ever increasing number of high net worth individuals in this region has seen a huge growth in the number of private banks and wealth managers in Asia.
• Corporates are expanding their operations in Asia and the following industries are particularly busy – IT and Technology firms, the hotel industry, FMCG and manufacturing companies.

While previous Asian transactional experience is always helpful, the above areas are busy enough to see lawyers with strong experience being relocated into this region - primarily Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

Increasingly, the PRC is becoming a focus for multi-national companies looking to expand their business into this growing area. Companies are seeking to relocate their centres of operations to the mainland and there is always a demand for foreign trained lawyers with fluent Mandarin language skills in a number of diverse areas such as Technology, Leisure Industry, FMCG's, Manufacturing companies and financial services.

For further information please contact:

Laurence Munoz
T: +852 2973 6333
E: laurencemunoz@taylorroot.com.hk

Latest Surveys 

We have collated the latest recruitment trends and salary information within our In-house Salary Surveys for Hong Kong and Singapore. 

For a free copy of our latest In-house Legal Salary Surveys for the Hong Kong and Singapore Markets please email:
Laurence Munoz - laurencemunoz@taylorroot.com.hk.

For a free copy of the Compliance Salary Survey please email:
Liam Richardson - liamrichardson@taylorroot.com.hk

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