Kiwi Lawyers Stay At Home As Jobs Market Shrinks

Kiwi Lawyers Stay At Home As Legal Jobs Market Shrinks

LawFuel - The Law Jobs and News Wir

The Big OE has become a bigger stay-at-home for lawyers wanting to spread their wings

New Zealand lawyers are staying at home rather than embarking on their legendary OE to London and other places with the increasingly deep recession.

Already New Zealand lawyers have lost jobs in London and others are finding bar work more easily than working at the bar.

Redundancies and salary caps among the major UK firms, which have become an almost daily occurrence, have put an end to the aspirations of many lawyers seeking the bright lights of London, Dubai and elsewhere.

Over 800 lawyers have lost their jobs in the UK in recent months alone, while US firms have been equally, if not more ferociously savaged by the legal market slowdown. Since the start of the year the London legal market has been gripped by a swath of cuts to both associate and partner ranks. Linklaters, in a project called "Linklaters New World," is due to get rid of around 40 partners from its 440-strong equity partnership. Clifford Chance has also announced that it is reviewing the size and shape of its partnership and Ashursts are cutting 10 partners.

However, not all recruiters are despondent about the legal jobs prospects overseas. Recruiter Simmons & Simmons told Lawyers Weekly that there remained opportunities in the Middle East and Moscow.

Emma Lim said “"Lawyers working in these areas gain good, transferable experience and often have increased responsibility and many more business development opportunities, which can only benefit them in their future career."
Read the full report at http://www.lawfuel.co.nz/news/article.asp?NewsID=737

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