Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
I don't see a future in the Malaysian legal market anymore. For transactional work, our country does not have enough deal flow. For litigation work, local firms pay worse than admin workers in corporations.
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What about trying to get into the big names, e.g. Shearn Delamore, LH AG, Skrine, ZICO, Rahmat Lim, and Wong & Partners?
COL in Malaysia is so low I think you're still in good stead if you stay there and farm in 1 of these firms.
It's difficult to enter the SG legal market as a Malaysian qualified lawyer.
Firstly, your understanding on the admissions process is totally inaccurate, including the misconception that an SG LLM allows you to qualify in SG. Read up on the relevant LPA admission rules.
Secondly unlike Aussie, US or English law trained counterparts, you're unlikely to find work as a registered foreign lawyer (i.e. expat lawyer) here because Malaysian law advisory is simply not in demand, either as governing law of a cross-border deal or servicing Malaysian corporates who have set up shop in SG. Frankly, Japanese law is probably more in demand in SG than Malaysian law is, because of the number of Japanese MNCs here, and any Malaysian law expertise required is literally just across the border.
Thirdly, if you want take the foreign practitioner exams (FPE) route to qualify as a foreign practitioner (FP), you'll need to have gained 3 years' relevant legal experience so you might as well stay in Malaysia and gain the experience first.
But once you're 3PQE in Malaysia, is there really any point in starting from 0PQE in SG again? There are very few SG firms willing to take you on at the equivalent level here since you have virtually no value no them. Also, why would they bother hiring an FP to practice certain permitted areas of SG law when they have their pick of SG qualified Singaporean NQs (who are a dime a dozen here) who have unrestricted rights to practice in all areas of SG law?
Most firms who have actually hired Malaysian FPs do so because these FPs are pretty senior (partner or of counsel level) in Malaysia and can bring something to the table e.g. clients, or connections.
Your best bet is my initial point - get into the top Malaysian law firms and move here after you're a very experienced practitioner there. By then, you may find it's not worth the trouble.