Getting a break in the lucky country
Australia has traditionally been very good at producing highly-educated, hard-working and well-trained lawyers, but not so good at providing opportunities for them; the country is generally described as ‘over-lawyered’ for its size. While the situation is alleviated somewhat by the numbers of Aussie and Kiwi lawyers who head for a stint in the UK each year, it can make finding a good job down under a tricky business.
2007, however, may represent the best chance for UK lawyers to make a new life for themselves, or at least enjoy a few years overseas, while returnees may never have a better opportunity to land a top role back home. Ten solid years of economic growth in both Australia and New Zealand, combined with the recovery in the London and US markets luring Aussie and Kiwi lawyers away, are creating the most buoyant legal recruitment market for a long, long time.
But, before you start scanning the Bondi property ads and attach 'roo bars to the Porsche, you'll need to make sure you match the demanding criteria applied by Australia's leading firms. Recruitment of foreign lawyers in both Australia and New Zealand is largely restricted to the leading branch of firms in each country and they are looking for people with equivalent experience in the UK, which typically means a background of a top 15 City firm or top tier regional. Antipodean firms are equally picky when it comes to which disciplines they will consider. The strength of the market has widened the field of practice areas open to foreign lawyers, but those with a transactional background in corporate or finance disciplines will certainly find the going a lot easier. Litigation, energy and IP/IT lawyers may find legal opportunities which didn't exist a couple of years ago. Less internationally transferable practices such as property, tax and employment law will find it rather more difficult, while there is very little demand for family, personal injury or criminal lawyers.
Even with the right background, you'll still need to work hard to convince firms down under to take you on.
“There has to be something about the candidate that will mark them out over and above people that are available locally,” says Tim Fogarty of recruitment agency Taylor Root. “Otherwise, the firms can have problems obtaining a visa.”
For the same reason, new qualifiers in the UK may find little interest, but one year PQE and above is usually enough for firms to start taking an interest, with the sweet spot between two and five years. Re-qualification as an Aussie lawyer is not a prerequisite to getting hired, although some firms will expect you to pass the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT) within the first couple of years or so.
Leap all these hurdles and the world is your oyster. Although the size and numbers of deals may not always match those on offer in the UK, the quality of work in Australia can be surprisingly good and, as Australian firms develop their networks and contacts in Asia, very internationally focused. With international quality work, however, comes international quality time in the office – according to research by Australian recruiters Mahlab, the average working week for lawyers in Australia is 49 hours.
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