Legal Jobs Tighten – What Can Young Kiwis So?

The Legal Jobs Market Tightens – So What Can Young Kiwi Lawyers Do To Score A Job?

LawFuel.co.nz – Online Legal Jobs - Thinking of moving law jobs – now is not the time, according to recruiters spoken to by legal jobs site LawFuel, unless a job away from the traditional market in London is sought.

The worsening financial crisis has seen law jobs shed in the UK and US with an ongoing process of slimming down and shedding “unwanted” lawyers as the major law firms, which employ most kiwi lawyers, now look to shore-up their bottom line with litigation, insolvency and reconstruction work.

In the UK the major firm Wragge & Co recently announced that 30 property law jobs were under threat and The Lawyer newspaper reports that most of the 440 jobs expected to go in firms nationally are principally in property and conveyancing. An array of conveyancing jobs from firms have been announced, few practices being unscathed by the changes – Cobbetts, Shoosmiths, Pannone, Fox Hayes and others.

Things are worse among the US law firms, although it’s a destination less frequented by New Zealand lawyers.

"I have never seen more resumes across the board," says Dan Binstock, managing director of BCG Attorney Search's Washington, D.C. office. "I've had far more requests for partner-level searches and partners [themselves] are much more open to talking, even if that's as far as it goes."

However there do remain opportunities in areas that have not been so greatly affected by the credit crisis, such as planning and environmental law.

And several firms are still seeking candidates for work outside of the UK with around 20 per cent of advertised jobs being in the Middle East, which continues to boom.

The downturn has hit the world financial centers in New York and London the hardest. And with emerging markets like Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai quickly gaining ground as leading financial centers, many out of work lawyers are setting their sights on the Middle East and Asia.

See full article at www.LawFuel.co.nz – Legal Jobs Online

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