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Old 19-07-2019, 09:21 AM
ivy lawyer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LegalBeagle View Post
You really don’t know a thing about the Singapore market, or the international legal market for that matter. You’re still mired in the lame “NY > London > HK > SG” kind of thinking. Those were the kind of misconceptions people had when they were still in Law School. I urge readers to take everything you say with a fistful of salt. There are so many flaws and stereotypes in your various posts that I don’t know where to begin correcting you. Ivy Lawyer indeed.

(1) “Must partner with local firms” - ever heard of QFLP? International firms with QFLP licenses are able to practice most areas of Singapore in its own right. Take CC Singapore for example. They practice all areas of SG law except litigation, which is handled by Cavenagh.

(2) “it is far lesser” - Singapore MC associates are paid on a global scale which is at or close to parity with their global peers in London and HK (ex US), with mild adjustments for tax rate differentials. Post-tax, SG and HK associates actually fare better than London associates, with little more than a $1,000 discrepancy between the SG and HK. CC NY is forced to pay Cravath rates because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to recruit any decent talent in the US market. Also, “lesser” is not grammatically correct. In Singapore, true “white shoe” outfits such as Milbank and LW pay full Cravath to their SG associates. Given local tax rates, SG White Shoe associates are far far better off than their NY counterparts. And of course nobody does better than the White Shoe associates working out of the UAE, who take zero tax and are often offered COLA on top of salary.

(3) “NQ” - where do I even begin... An “NQ” for the purposes of an SG Big4 is someone who has just passed the Singapore Bar. An “NQ” for the purposes of an SC/MC firm is someone who has just completed two years of rotational practice (ie: four half-year seats), or lateraled in from an SG Big4 as a Year 3 associate. An “NQ” for the purposes of a white shoe firm is someone who’s either just come in fresh off a JD or a mid-tier associate who’s lateraled in from a lower tier outfit (such as MC/SC) and taken a huge PQE haircut. I’ve seen even SG 6PQEs joining white shoe firms on the “NQ” scale.
if you look through the whole thread, there are many people who say the same things as me.

what law school are you from?
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