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Hi everyone,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster

I am New Zealand lawyer who recently located to NY to join my husband who is studying towards his PhD (I am on a J visa which permits me to work). I sat and passed the February administration of the NY Bar exam first try. I am now waiting to be admitted and land a job.

I am wondering if anyone out there is able to give advice on the best way to enter the market or any recruiters they would recommend to a foreigner? My background is in litigation (3.5 years PQE at a mid-tier firm), but I am open to all fields. I have read the other forums but they are naturally geared to those who began their career in the US.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Bump because I am contemplating a similar move.

My recommendation is to first try and use any (and all!) connections that you have at NY firms you are interested in. I moved from a top Australian firm to a V5 NY firm a couple of years ago. I was fortunately able to get a foot in the door using connections that I had. Don't discount even vague or tangential connections (for example, a client of mine in Australia who had been an associate at a NY firm 5+ years earlier was willing to put me in touch with their old firm after I reached out to them on LinkedIn). If you have a good relationship with the partner/s at your firm in NZ, perhaps it is also worthwhile speaking with them - they will likely have connections with partners at NY firms that they have worked with. If you don't have any connections, then I would look to recruiters. I don't really have any recommendations for you on which to use.

I think it will be helpful that you have already sat and passed the bar, however anecdotally I think that foreign qualified lawyers have a harder time landing positions in NY litigation teams than they do in transactional teams. If you are open to moving into a transactional team you might have an easier time. You also need to expect to take a deduction in PQE. Given that you are 3.5 PQE in NZ, I would expect that NY firms will want to hire you into their first or second year classes. Don't view this as a bad thing. It gives you time to acclimatize to the firm and learn the law without the added pressure and responsibility of being asked to run matters from day 1.

ponzu wrote:Hi everyone,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster

I am New Zealand lawyer who recently located to NY to join my husband who is studying towards his PhD (I am on a J visa which permits me to work). I sat and passed the February administration of the NY Bar exam first try. I am now waiting to be admitted and land a job.

I am wondering if anyone out there is able to give advice on the best way to enter the market or any recruiters they would recommend to a foreigner? My background is in litigation (3.5 years PQE at a mid-tier firm), but I am open to all fields. I have read the other forums but they are naturally geared to those who began their career in the US.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

/Australian Lawyer in Biglaw NYC firm.

First of all, what do you want to do? Even more so than back down under, the working experience in different types of firms here is radically different from Biglaw shops to smaller firms and so on.

Most Australians working here in Biglaw have one or more of the following credentials which got them in the door (i) experience at a top-tier Australian firm (ii) a US LLM or (iii) another Australian who works/worked in Biglaw vouching for them. It's generally easier to get in as corporate rather than litigation lawyer as well. I think you may struggle to convince a Biglaw firm to give you a shot if you only have NZ mid-tier experience, particularly in litigation, and without some other qualifiers listed above.

But Biglaw is only part of the legal scene, and the fact that you are already admitted, work-authorised and physically here means that you have a lot more flexibility in targeting the rest of the market than if you are trying to find a job from back home (which essentially limits you to the big firms which are comfortable sponsoring people to come over).

If I was in your shoes, I would look at career advice (on this forum and other places) targeted at students who went to lower-ranked law schools in the US and follow it with the appropriate amendments given your background/experience. Basically, I would sell yourself to smaller firms as getting a lawyer for the price of a US first year that has a bunch more practical knowledge about lawyering, running cases and managing clients.

Borris wrote:My recommendation is to first try and use any (and all!) connections that you have at NY firms you are interested in. I moved from a top Australian firm to a V5 NY firm a couple of years ago. I was fortunately able to get a foot in the door using connections that I had. Don't discount even vague or tangential connections (for example, a client of mine in Australia who had been an associate at a NY firm 5+ years earlier was willing to put me in touch with their old firm after I reached out to them on LinkedIn). If you have a good relationship with the partner/s at your firm in NZ, perhaps it is also worthwhile speaking with them - they will likely have connections with partners at NY firms that they have worked with. If you don't have any connections, then I would look to recruiters. I don't really have any recommendations for you on which to use.

I think it will be helpful that you have already sat and passed the bar, however anecdotally I think that foreign qualified lawyers have a harder time landing positions in NY litigation teams than they do in transactional teams. If you are open to moving into a transactional team you might have an easier time. You also need to expect to take a deduction in PQE. Given that you are 3.5 PQE in NZ, I would expect that NY firms will want to hire you into their first or second year classes. Don't view this as a bad thing. It gives you time to acclimatize to the firm and learn the law without the added pressure and responsibility of being asked to run matters from day 1.

Thank you so much for the advice! Congratulations on successfully making the move some years ago.

I have already started utilizing the connections I have and attended a few networking events. I have also heard that it is difficult to land a position in litigation as against transactional teams. I am definitely open to transactional work, but I am conscious I don't have experience in that area.

I am also happy to start from square 1 in terms of PQE and agree with your remark about the benefit of time to acclimatize to the firm!

Anonymous User wrote:

ponzu wrote:Hi everyone,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster

I am New Zealand lawyer who recently located to NY to join my husband who is studying towards his PhD (I am on a J visa which permits me to work). I sat and passed the February administration of the NY Bar exam first try. I am now waiting to be admitted and land a job.

I am wondering if anyone out there is able to give advice on the best way to enter the market or any recruiters they would recommend to a foreigner? My background is in litigation (3.5 years PQE at a mid-tier firm), but I am open to all fields. I have read the other forums but they are naturally geared to those who began their career in the US.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

/Australian Lawyer in Biglaw NYC firm.

First of all, what do you want to do? Even more so than back down under, the working experience in different types of firms here is radically different from Biglaw shops to smaller firms and so on.

Most Australians working here in Biglaw have one or more of the following credentials which got them in the door (i) experience at a top-tier Australian firm (ii) a US LLM or (iii) another Australian who works/worked in Biglaw vouching for them. It's generally easier to get in as corporate rather than litigation lawyer as well. I think you may struggle to convince a Biglaw firm to give you a shot if you only have NZ mid-tier experience, particularly in litigation, and without some other qualifiers listed above.

But Biglaw is only part of the legal scene, and the fact that you are already admitted, work-authorised and physically here means that you have a lot more flexibility in targeting the rest of the market than if you are trying to find a job from back home (which essentially limits you to the big firms which are comfortable sponsoring people to come over).

If I was in your shoes, I would look at career advice (on this forum and other places) targeted at students who went to lower-ranked law schools in the US and follow it with the appropriate amendments given your background/experience. Basically, I would sell yourself to smaller firms as getting a lawyer for the price of a US first year that has a bunch more practical knowledge about lawyering, running cases and managing clients.

Thanks for the advice!

To answer your question, I would like to stay in litigation (if only because it is familiar and what I have experience in), but I am definitely open to other work such as joining a transactional team. I have also heard that work experience in NY is much different to the likes of down-under (e.g. I have wide-ranging experience whereas I understand attorneys tend to specialise in the US).

I am a wary that I do not have the credentials to get into Biglaw. I am more than open to working for a mid-tier firm - I just want to get a foot in!

I appreciate your suggestion to market myself to a smaller firm who has practical knowledge! I think I will run with that