December 2024 Market Update
December 2024 Market Update
Anthony Matthews
13 December 2024
It's cold outside but the market is starting to warm up. We have been seeing a slow international recruitment market since the highs of late ’21/early ’22 however as we come to the end of what has been a turbulent geopolitical year, the outlook for next year looks more positive. Core areas are starting to get busier, especially corporate and finance. Generally speaking, when corporate is busy, recruitment is busy and we expect ’25 to be an improvement on ‘24.
Locations
London
Sweet old London, our home town and busiest market. London has been a reflection of the general trend across legal recruitment as outlined above. Since the summer, leveraged finance has been in huge demand and corporate is starting to get busier. We have also seen an increase in roles with an infrastructure/projects lean. We’d expect this to continue growing in ’25.
Moving from Australia/New Zealand
We’ve seen an increase in firms being open to hiring overseas qualified associates. Most of this has been with the magic circle, some silver circle and some US and we hope that this will keep growing as the market gets busier. Corporate and finance are still the easiest practice areas to make the international move. Litigation has proved challenging with many firms preferring to see locally qualified talent.
Exchange Rate
The £ has recently been very strong against the Australian and New Zealand Dollar, going back through the A$2/NZ$2.2 barrier in December. Therefore, an NQ at a US firm in London would now be on the equivalent of A$360,000 / NZ$396,000!
Dublin
After years of moving lawyers from Dublin to London, we are excited to start giving back to the Irish market and have started working with a firm in the Fair City. Dublin has been busier than London and opportunities have been available across corporate, finance and projects.
Moving from Australia/New Zealand
The reason that we have started moving people to the Irish market is because it has become much more popular with Antipodean associates. You can benefit from similar advantages as London (being close to Europe etc.) with an improved w/l balance and high-quality work.
New York & US
New York and the US has moved a lot slower than London looking at overseas associates. Much of this is due to over hiring when the market was busy but also from a timing perspective. US associates don’t really have much of a notice period to talk of so it has been easier for firms to hire local talent who have also already passed the NY (or state) Bar. The tides be a changing though and firms (especially in New York) are starting to consider Australians for corporate and finance roles in Manhattan. We expect this to keep growing in 2025 and we will be heading to New York in March to speak with clients regarding upcoming international recruitment. The West Coast has been quieter for international recruitment and we would expect this to continue until the market is much busier. There are a handful of firms in Texas who are open to seeing Australians, especially with an energy background.
Moving from Australia/New Zealand
It’s great news if you are an Australian as there is a special visa arrangement between Australia and the US. Unfortunately, this is not available to New Zealand citizens – or any other citizens at this point!
Moving from Ireland
We’ve been involved in international recruitment for eight years and over this time, the discussion of the E-3 Visa for Irish nationals has always been discussed. In May of ’24, a new bill was brought to Congress to get the wheels in motion but predictably, this hasn’t progressed since. If the E-3 Visa becomes available to Irish citizens, we already have firms who would be willing to consider Irish nationals.
Singapore
Singapore continues to grow and dominate the APAC region. With firms pulling out of China and the Hong Kong market becoming quieter, Singapore is booming. Great opportunities exist for any common law qualified associates. With the city being less than 5 hours from Perth, it is a great location for Australians to consider if they are not open to moving so far away from home.
Moves in the London market
Focusing on the London market, there have been a number of senior moves between some of the larger firms. The largest movement in the last quarter has seen 18 lawyers moving from Latham & Watkins to rivals Sidley. Coming out of the pandemic there were 3 or 4 US firms which dominated the market in London. Now, with the emergence of Paul Weiss and aggressive hiring strategies of other firms such as Paul Hastings, Davis Polk and Sidley, there are now a combination of 10 to 12 US firms who are competing for work alongside the magic circle. The benefits of this is that there should be a more diverse client base for international associates when it comes to looking for a move.
London salaries
After much pressure from other firms raising salaries, Slaughter and May eventually succumbed to raising their NQ salary to £150,000 meaning that all of the magic circle now pay this rate. This is an increase of over £70,000 in the last ten years! Although we expect the UK firms to wait until at least the end of ’25 before looking at this again, early intelligence from the US suggests that the US firms will put up salaries again next year (albeit slightly). The US bonuses were strong at the end of ’24 so all eyes will be on Milbank who now traditionally set the benchmark for other firms to follow in the US and subsequently London.
Globetrotting
In 2024, we visited: Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Melbourne, Singapore & Sydney where we met with lawyers who were looking at overseas options and the Avios balance is looking a lot healthier than in the pandemic! Confirmed trips for the first half of 2025 can be found below. If you are located in any of these cities and would like to discuss options, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thursday 16th & 17th January – Dublin
Tuesday 4th – Friday 7th March – New York City
March 18th – Edinburgh
March 19th – Glasgow
March 20th – Manchester
March 21st – Leeds & Sheffield
It's cold outside but the market is starting to warm up. We have been seeing a slow international recruitment market since the highs of late ’21/early ’22 however as we come to the end of what has been a turbulent geopolitical year, the outlook for next year looks more positive. Core areas are starting to get busier, especially corporate and finance. Generally speaking, when corporate is busy, recruitment is busy and we expect ’25 to be an improvement on ‘24.
Locations
London
Sweet old London, our home town and busiest market. London has been a reflection of the general trend across legal recruitment as outlined above. Since the summer, leveraged finance has been in huge demand and corporate is starting to get busier. We have also seen an increase in roles with an infrastructure/projects lean. We’d expect this to continue growing in ’25.
Moving from Australia/New Zealand
We’ve seen an increase in firms being open to hiring overseas qualified associates. Most of this has been with the magic circle, some silver circle and some US and we hope that this will keep growing as the market gets busier. Corporate and finance are still the easiest practice areas to make the international move. Litigation has proved challenging with many firms preferring to see locally qualified talent.
Exchange Rate
The £ has recently been very strong against the Australian and New Zealand Dollar, going back through the A$2/NZ$2.2 barrier in December. Therefore, an NQ at a US firm in London would now be on the equivalent of A$360,000 / NZ$396,000!
Dublin
After years of moving lawyers from Dublin to London, we are excited to start giving back to the Irish market and have started working with a firm in the Fair City. Dublin has been busier than London and opportunities have been available across corporate, finance and projects.
Moving from Australia/New Zealand
The reason that we have started moving people to the Irish market is because it has become much more popular with Antipodean associates. You can benefit from similar advantages as London (being close to Europe etc.) with an improved w/l balance and high-quality work.
New York & US
New York and the US has moved a lot slower than London looking at overseas associates. Much of this is due to over hiring when the market was busy but also from a timing perspective. US associates don’t really have much of a notice period to talk of so it has been easier for firms to hire local talent who have also already passed the NY (or state) Bar. The tides be a changing though and firms (especially in New York) are starting to consider Australians for corporate and finance roles in Manhattan. We expect this to keep growing in 2025 and we will be heading to New York in March to speak with clients regarding upcoming international recruitment. The West Coast has been quieter for international recruitment and we would expect this to continue until the market is much busier. There are a handful of firms in Texas who are open to seeing Australians, especially with an energy background.
Moving from Australia/New Zealand
It’s great news if you are an Australian as there is a special visa arrangement between Australia and the US. Unfortunately, this is not available to New Zealand citizens – or any other citizens at this point!
Moving from Ireland
We’ve been involved in international recruitment for eight years and over this time, the discussion of the E-3 Visa for Irish nationals has always been discussed. In May of ’24, a new bill was brought to Congress to get the wheels in motion but predictably, this hasn’t progressed since. If the E-3 Visa becomes available to Irish citizens, we already have firms who would be willing to consider Irish nationals.
Singapore
Singapore continues to grow and dominate the APAC region. With firms pulling out of China and the Hong Kong market becoming quieter, Singapore is booming. Great opportunities exist for any common law qualified associates. With the city being less than 5 hours from Perth, it is a great location for Australians to consider if they are not open to moving so far away from home.
Moves in the London market
Focusing on the London market, there have been a number of senior moves between some of the larger firms. The largest movement in the last quarter has seen 18 lawyers moving from Latham & Watkins to rivals Sidley. Coming out of the pandemic there were 3 or 4 US firms which dominated the market in London. Now, with the emergence of Paul Weiss and aggressive hiring strategies of other firms such as Paul Hastings, Davis Polk and Sidley, there are now a combination of 10 to 12 US firms who are competing for work alongside the magic circle. The benefits of this is that there should be a more diverse client base for international associates when it comes to looking for a move.
London salaries
After much pressure from other firms raising salaries, Slaughter and May eventually succumbed to raising their NQ salary to £150,000 meaning that all of the magic circle now pay this rate. This is an increase of over £70,000 in the last ten years! Although we expect the UK firms to wait until at least the end of ’25 before looking at this again, early intelligence from the US suggests that the US firms will put up salaries again next year (albeit slightly). The US bonuses were strong at the end of ’24 so all eyes will be on Milbank who now traditionally set the benchmark for other firms to follow in the US and subsequently London.
Globetrotting
In 2024, we visited: Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Melbourne, Singapore & Sydney where we met with lawyers who were looking at overseas options and the Avios balance is looking a lot healthier than in the pandemic! Confirmed trips for the first half of 2025 can be found below. If you are located in any of these cities and would like to discuss options, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thursday 16th & 17th January – Dublin
Tuesday 4th – Friday 7th March – New York City
March 18th – Edinburgh
March 19th – Glasgow
March 20th – Manchester
March 21st – Leeds & Sheffield