HK/Singapore/Tokyo Lateral Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a junior CM/corporate associate looking to lateral to one of HK/Singapore/Tokyo. I'm wondering if there is any info on COLA in these locations, or which are best for eventually returning to the US?

[Anonymous User]

Do you know Japanese (at an advanced business-proficient level)? If not your chances of ending in Japan is fairly low. Singapore is by far the most friendly jurisdiction to English only attorneys in Asia. HK is somewhere in between.

All three I would say are equally difficult if you want to lateral back to the states. Asia capital markets is much less about technicals (you would not believe some of the elementary grammar issues in drafts produced by V10 firms in HK / Japan - the level of English mastery is much higher in SG but again cap market works are just not about technicals in Asia). As an associate, your role is far more about managing the client / investment banks at the deal team level and knowing how to process often conflicting comments from different client team members (who are usually not sophisticated) and different lead banks (gs / ms / jpm always politicking on deals - god help you if they are all materially involved on your transaction). Your experience will diverge from that of a US based capital markets lawyer fairly early on and most of the experiences / relationship capital you would develop are not transferable.

HK might have a small leg up for lateralling back because it is still the Asia HQ for most major capital market players (for now at least). The offices here are usually bigger than SG / Japan combined. The most senior Asia partners usually sit in HK and your average deal size will be bigger from HK (just a function of China and Pan Asia deals mostly routing through HK while you get Japan / SEA deals in Tokyo / SG 95% of the time which tend to be smaller on average). Might make it slightly easier to lateral back if you sit in HK.

[nihonsundeitai]

For Japan, you will need to speak Japanese fluently and/or have connections to Japan (e.g. spouse is Japanese, already lived in Japan, etc.). The legal market in Japan is really small and almost every domestic and international firm there does not want to hire someone who is trying to live in Japan for 1-2 years and return to the states. Even if you are able to secure an offer from a law firm in Japan, it will be almost impossible for you to return to the states. Whether it's right or wrong, most firms in the states will assume that you won't have the same amount of experience as someone who is in your class and stayed in the states. I have a number of friends at law firms in Japan that want to return to the states and they all confirm it is very difficult to get back to the states. In other words, you should only consider Japan if you want to stay there indefinitely.

[Anonymous User]

Not so familiar with Singapore and Tokyo market but heard things have been slowing down a lot in HK market recently, especially for CM. I have seen folks from HK/Singapore lateraling back to US and I have heard as long as you don't have any visa issues (e.g. need h1b sponsorship) it shouldn't be that difficult to lateral back from both offices.

[Anonymous User]

For Tokyo heard from friends anywhere from around 60k to 95k COLA.

I’ve seen some folks return to the US from HK/Tokyo, but they already had some years in the US under their belt before going to HK/Japan. Not sure if they took any haircuts when returning.

[Anonymous User]

COLA was USD 30K for Links and Skadden in SG a couple years ago. 0 COLA at all other firms.

For Tokyo heard from friends anywhere from around 60k to 95k COLA.

I’ve seen some folks return to the US from HK/Tokyo, but they already had some years in the US under their belt before going to HK/Japan. Not sure if they took any haircuts when returning.

[mandrewsf]

Replying to follow thread.