Kiwi and Aussie lawyers – things to know when coming to London now

Now the COVID19 pandemic of the last few years is all but over, many Kiwi and Aussie lawyers have activated or reactivated long-frustrated plans for a delayed OE or longer-term strategic career move.

Plenty have made the move already in time for the London spring and summer, and nearly every morning I have at least one call from a Kiwi or Australian-qualified lawyer wanting to join them. I’ve written plenty about all aspects of legal careers, including several on how to get a job in London as a Kiwi lawyer, and every time I start a new one (for a new audience?) I’m conscious that I’m almost certainly repeating myself. But repetition can be a useful tool, as several better known and better thinking philosophers than I can attest. Sorry not sorry.

I thought it would be useful to break this one down into the things I typically get asked on that first call with an Australasian lawyer coming to London. Get in touch to have that call for real: DVD@jamesonlegal.com.

The London legal market

The London legal market is much MUCH bigger than New Zealand’s or Australia's. It breaks down most simply into Private Practice (law firms), In-house (non-law firm private sector businesses which hire lawyers), and Public Sector/Charities. For the purposes of this article I’ll concentrate mostly on Private Practice because it’s what I focus on now, but I have spent a lot of my career as a lawyer and recruiter in the in-house market so there may be another article on that soon.

The UK Public Sector is a well-known employer of Australasian lawyers; but it’s not one I work in; having seen ex-colleagues struggle with the UK government’s procurement framework I’ve avoided getting involved. However, if you want to explore Government work, I can advise you on routes into that market.

There is also a huge interim (temporary and contract) market which from what I can make out isn’t as much of a factor (at least for lawyers) in New Zealand or Australia. This ranges from perhaps the best-known type of contract position, a “maternity leave” fixed-term contract, usually paid a pro-rata salary for 6 months or longer, to hourly rate document review work, assisting law firms on large transactions or trials. As a new arrival from another country, you don't have to complete a notice period before you can leave your old job, and you're thus eligible for jobs requiring that you be immediately available (and more likely to take on a position with a shorter tenure). Contract work is such a well-known route into the UK legal market that one paragraph in this article really won’t do it justice; get in touch and I’ll direct you to my colleagues in our interim team, Jameson Contract Solutions.

Anyway, back to the size. According to no less a bible than Wikipedia, “large” New Zealand firms, like Bell Gully, Russell McVeagh, and Chapman Tripp, have around 200 lawyers and two or maybe three offices depending on how much importance they attach to Christchurch as a commercial centre.

In comparison, Watson Farley & Williams, a UK firm who many Kiwis won’t have heard of, has 15 offices around the world and about 460 lawyers. They’re a good firm (and compete with the very best in shipping finance and energy infrastructure transactions), but nowhere near the “Magic Circle” or “Silver Circle” firms you may have heard stories about.

Speaking of the “Circles” – both terms were made up by the legal press. The term “Magic Circle” was made up in the 1990s to describe the five most prestigious (and profitable) London-headquartered multinational law firms. “Silver Circle” was coined in 2005 to describe firms with a lower turnover than those in the Magic Circle, but with profitability and revenue per lawyer far above the UK average.

The Magic Circle is and was always five firms: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May. You may recognise some of those names for their acquisitive forays into Australia. The Silver Circle is a more amorphous group, and recent commentary has suggested that the Silver Circle as originally conceived has broken up, so the term is now more often used somewhat clumsily to describe firms that might be viewed perhaps slightly less desirable/demanding/prestigious than the Magic Circle. It’s not as simple as that (plenty of Silver Circle firms will work you just as hard, give you the same quality of work and pay you just as well as those in the Magic Circle), but as a shorthand for Kiwi lawyers new to the market a clumsy and sometimes inaccurate generalisation probably doesn’t hurt.

Outside the Circles (sometimes above them in pay, likely working hours, and quality of work depending on your practice area) sit US firms, who arrived in London en masse in the early 2000s and kept coming. The salary wars of 2021-22 were mostly driven by US firms, who employ what came to be known as the “Cravath scale” of salaries (after New York firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and recently overtaken by the salaries of Davis Polk and Milbank LLP though who knows how long that will last).

Of course there are hundreds of other UK firms, perceived as being “below” the Circles in terms of hours worked, salaries, and work quality, but the money at least will be significantly more than you see even at a big firm in New Zealand or Australia. UK firm salary information is far more readily available than New Zealand’s, and rises are regularly announced in the legal press. Mishcon de Reya for example, a firm which sits in size just above Watson Farley & Williams who I mentioned above, recently upped their Newly Qualified ("NQ") salary to £90,000. According to the Aotearoa Legal Workers' Union 2020 employment information report, even top-tier New Zealand firms pay less than NZD$50,000 at the same level.

Remember that nomenclature is just shorthand - just because a firm is in the Magic or Silver Circle doesn’t necessarily mean they will work you any harder, pay you more or give you better or worse experience than any other firm. You need to consider each opportunity on its merits.

When should I come to London?

To get the best weather and introduction to the UK and Europe (and a double summer, if you’re coming from the southern hemisphere) I always suggest Australasian lawyers should aim to arrive in March or April. There’s a palpable change in the mood of the City as the weather changes, and why wouldn’t you move to a new city when the days are getting longer and its residents are delighted to see the end of another long cold winter?

Also the UK tax year starts for many employers in early April, and spending plans will usually include recruitment. A lot of new jobs come onto the market during Q2.

No, I mean when should I come to London?

I did write a longer piece about this, but TL;DR: you need to make sure you’re senior enough to be considered at least the same level as an England & Wales Newly Qualified (NQ) lawyer. But not too senior. The sweet spot is overwhelmingly 2-5 PQE in UK terms. Outside that bracket, there will be options for you, but you may face stiffer competition (from candidates who are England & Wales qualified and experienced, and have the right to work here) and there will be fewer jobs to compete for.

How long will it take to find a job?

How long is that proverbial piece of string? It depends how prepared, organised, and picky you are. And how closely your New Zealand or Australian skillset fits the requirements of the UK market. During the past 18 months when hardly any kiwis or Aussies have been travelling, there has been a desperate shortage of Corporate, Real Estate, and Banking Associates to service the booming market. The demand is slightly abating, but there are still plenty of roles in transactional areas. We’re also seeing activity in Insurance, Construction, Competition, Projects, and Insolvency.

If you’re open to contract work, that’s likely to come more quickly than a permanent job. Apart from anything else, most UK lawyers are on three months’ notice which affects the speed at which the whole process happens. Even though I’ve been working in this market a long time (both inside and outside law firms) I’m still amazed that a firm can take six months after receiving a CV to call a candidate to first interview. But they can.

Your CV

Several times over the past few weeks I’ve received Kiwi or Australian lawyer CVs which read like a job description for their current job, without any detail on the matters they’ve worked on. You have to make it your own, by detailing what you’ve done.

Another thing which seems to be peculiar to Kiwi lawyer CVs is listing a set of “transferable skills” they have. Written and Oral Communication skills, Research skills, Time management. It would be weird if they didn’t have these skills as a lawyer. Show don’t tell!

Anyway, I’ve written a much longer article about this – get in touch for a copy: DVD@jamesonlegal.com.

CV “ownership”

Sure, it’s yours, and "ownership" is a horrible term – but law firms and companies don’t want to get into an argument about who they have to pay for an introduction, and recruitment agencies won’t be able to represent someone whose CV has already gone all over the market.

Make sure you keep track of where you’ve consented your CV to be sent. Don’t allow ANYBODY – an agent, your best friend, your nan, to circulate your CV without your express consent in EACH case. Ideally entrust your CV introductions to somebody who knows what they're doing. If you’re vague about this, you become very difficult to work with.

Mechanics

A Kiwi lawyer I’ve placed at an international law firm in London recently asked if I had any tips and tricks on moving to London; in particular, he was keen on some information on finding accommodation and getting a bank account set up. In the olden days, we used to find out these things by word of mouth, at a party or in the queue to get into a pub. Now the Kiwis in London page (also on Facebook) is the most ridiculously useful resource. Clint Heine is a legend. Go there – you’ll thank me.

I'm pretty sure they let Aussies in too. Just don't try to claim Crowded House. You can have Russell Crowe.

P.S. Although this article is aimed at Kiwi and Australian lawyers, of course I work with lawyers of all nationalities, including those born, brought up, trained and qualified in the UK.

David von Dadelszen is a kiwi ex-lawyer who came to London in 2004 for two years and seems to have stayed. Since 2006 he has been working in legal recruitment and has particular expertise in helping Kiwi and Australian-qualified lawyers navigate their careers around the world. David also runs a “Kiwi lawyers around the world” LinkedIn Group.