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Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 131326)

Any current trainees been told that they will or will not be retained?

Yes but I shall not mention the firms.
If you’re in law, it’ll be pretty obvious. Just ask around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 131329)

Yes but I shall not mention the firms.
If you’re in law, it’ll be pretty obvious. Just ask around.

I assume you're replying in relation to the not retained part?

Thanks. Also the whole point of asking here is so that I can find out this stuff anonymously, it's kind of a tricky question to ask your friends...

Hey guys, I saw in one of the earlier posts (way earlier - too much free time) that Shook Lin & Bok is a non-dispute focused firm. Is that true?

Additionally, any thoughts on the firm in relation to prestige, likelihood of lateralling to international firms and firm culture (e.g. hours and partners' reasonableness)?

Thank you in advance!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 131333)

Which dept in question are you considering?

Disputes lateralling to international rarely happens outside of international arbi, which I dont think SLB is known for.

I'm the poster of #4974 and was looking at the practice groups of Restructuring & Insolvency and Financial Services Regulatory, and was wondering if these groups would be considered disputes or advisory focused + the questions I stated in my earlier post.

Any thoughts on these would be super helpful!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 131312)

Too much over-simplification here from people going on about how legal work is "not a necessity" and easily cut when companies are not doing well.

Being a lawyer means you're providing advisory services. And in many cases, legal advice is absolutely necessary if you're planning to go ahead with virtually any major commercial transaction (see M&A, financing, restructuring) or litigation. As such, we are a protected industry that is relatively stable in a recession compared to many other professions (I am not saying everything is fine, note the "relatively"). Now, clearly the economy has slowed meaning many underlying transactions have stalled or cut entirely, and obviously you don't need legal advice if there is no deal or you don't have the money to hire a lawyer to sue, and SG doesn't allow hiring on contingency. That's the fallout in certain firms in certain departments you are observing. But this doesn't mean that legal services aren't still absolutely essential in many ways.

Certain departments in many firms are still doing well - thriving, in fact, because of the economic downturn. It's also a matter of economics. M&A has slowed locally, but you can see it's actually sped up in many parts of the US and Europe. This has to do with structural differences in the companies.

Anyone who just parrots the "the economy is doing bad so lawyers aren't needed" trope clearly lacks the intellectual nuance to be a good lawyer, but then again what was I expecting from an internet forum.

Largely agree with this. I'm still expecting to see "retrenchment" and trainees not being able to secure assoc places (the fallout departments).

any boutique dispute reso firms to recommend? Am currently looking for an internship which allows me to learn as much as possible and not purely for the portfolio. Thanks!

KSCGP Juris Admiralty Dept

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 131359)

any boutique dispute reso firms to recommend? Am currently looking for an internship which allows me to learn as much as possible and not purely for the portfolio. Thanks!

what's your idea of boutique?

it can mean any small firm in toa payoh or chinatown, or firms set up by big firm partners doing "high class" work.

tbh you want to learn as much as possible go to chinatown firms. depending on your boss, you can be fully running trials by 3rd year as some of my friends are. but whether you can accept the lack of prestige and lower pay is another question lor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered (Post 131359)

any boutique dispute reso firms to recommend? Am currently looking for an internship which allows me to learn as much as possible and not purely for the portfolio. Thanks!

what kind of disputes are you looking to do?
PI is also disputes.

Im refraining from mentioning firms/teams i have a bad impression of or had bad experiences with.

I've had dealings with the construction team at Rodyk and they're pretty good. They also seem to treat their juniors pretty well. Turnover for the particular team i have in mind is super low - it's been 4 years and still the same 3 people.

One of the disputes team (gen lit with focus on investment) at Khattar is also pretty decent- lots of court of appeal cases and reported cases. Turnover for this team is high, every year someone leaves.

Was impressed with the trusts team at TSMP too (only worked with that team, no comment on the other teams).

Small firms... i was pleasantly surprised by a few. Raymond Yeo (only does family), Tan Lee and partners, Ling Das and partners (construction matters, no comment on their other practice areas), Eugene Thuraisignam (criminal matters, no comment on their other practice areas)