Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Hey LegalBeagle (and other international firm pals), I kinda need some guidance here. I'm doing a JD in a lower T14 US school right now, and I'm hoping to return to Singapore to work. I love it here in the US, but my parents are old and the thought of not seeing them and regretting when it's too late to do so fills me with dread...
Are there any biglaw firms in Sg besides Latham that hires fresh US associates? My grades are pretty ass (I'm not exactly a great student, just a tiny minnow swimming amongst sharks) and I'm pretty sure Latham with their GPA cut-offs ain't hiring someone like me.
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Based on your academic profile, if you come back directly after graduation, you may have trouble even getting into a local Big4 firm. The sad reality about practice in SG is that local firms here expect to pay peanuts for diligent, highly qualified warm bodies. US firms generally do not take pupils into their SG offices, preferring to poach trained associates from their competitors.
Also, US firms here generally do not pay Cravath, save for two (Latham’s and Milbank). All the rest pay either local Magic Circle rates or a funky mysterious mid-Atlantic rate which sits between MC rates and proper Cravath rates. They use the tax differential/cost of living argument as justification for this difference.
So if you’re looking to earn NY scale salaries in SG, your best course of action would be to fight for a job in the US market in a mobile area of law which would allow you to move back to SG such as cap markets, B&F, Project Finance etc. I don’t know anything about the NY legal market so I can’t say much. I imagine you’d face strong competition there, though quite certainly not as fierce as the fight you’d face here!
You face an additional complication due to the need to consider family. That’s a tough one which you’ve got to decide on your own. I’ve turned down many amazing overseas job offers throughout my years in practice, for the sake of family. I’ve always felt short term regret, but in the long run I think staying is the right thing to do. I don’t think I could face myself if I’d allowed my aged parents to die alone in their twilight years. On the other hand, it does seem silly to come back to this cheapskate, crowded market and take local firm salaries when you could potentially be earning literally 4 times as much in a US firm (and note, this is not an exaggeration).