How can I move to Japan, and find work as an attorney (before I'm 40).? - Page 2

You might consider putting in for a free subscription to Asian Counsel ( http://www.pbpress.com ) which provides basic coverage of the legal community in Asia (more HK than Japan). I found the November issue here on docstoc.

Some of the recruiters who heavily advertise in the magazine and/or at their conferences include:

http://www.mlaglobal.com/
http://www.laurencesimons.com/
http://www.hughescastell.com/offices/hk/


A better more Japan-focused newsletter would be the tongue-in-cheek named "Roppongi Bar Association" - a networking group for foreign lawyers in Tokyo: http://www.rbalaw.org. Annual membership for 2009 was Y7,000 or around $76.


An archived version of last year's newsletter can be viewed here.

Also, the handful of legal recruiters who advertise within RBA are:

http://www.optiapartners.com
http://www.t2tokyo.co.jp
http://www.legalfutures.com

(However, do keep in mind what I warned you about regarding recruiters)

Finally, some good advice on this pdf:

http://www.law.usyd.edu.au/anjel/doc..._Law_Firms.pdf

Greetings from Tokyo. Interestingly enough last night I had dinner with a few friends and one particular friend of mine is an out of work lawyer that is trying to find a new gig in Tokyo. Just to give some perspective to the original poster: My friend is an American like yourself and did M&A big-law (Skadden Arps, Morrison & Foerster, etc.) here in Tokyo for several years during the bull-market (2002-2007). After hating the working hours/lifestyle he quit and traveled the world for one year and came back in early 2009. This friend of mine speaks fluent Japanese, has a killer fucking resume and could have gotten any offer during the bull-market but even he couldn't find a job. The reality he said was that there just isn't enough work and most firms were scaling back their Tokyo offices or closing down. He told me that many new graduate associates for several firms were offered 60k just to chill out until the end of year because there so little work to be done. Currently he lucked out and found a temporary contractual gig with my ex-employer, Lehman Brothers, and is currently working on the legal aspects concerning the unwinding of Lehman's huge positions. But unlike London and New York, Japanese investors had little appetite for more risky-complex products and the actual work legal work may be done relatively quickly, maybe in the next year of so. Hence, he's still keeping his eyes/ears open for any new positions. One thing that may be of interest to you is that the Tokyo Stock Exchange will be starting its new high-frequency trading platform this new year called Arrowhead. What this means for financial services companies is that many new electronic trading players will be entering the field to grab a piece of the potential new-flow. I know of a few US/European firms that are starting to ramp up their offices in Tokyo to take advantage of this new liquidity in particular LiquidNet, Knight, Chi-X. These shop will inevitably need legal counsel to deal w/ the market conditions/products never available before in Tokyo.

You should listen to blackjack. I practiced in Tokyo for six years, and go back on business relatively regularly. I was also on the executive board of the Roppongi Bar Association. Being fluent in Japanese almost never hurts, but there are different levels of fluency and literacy, from being able to say hello and good bye, to daily conversation over beers, to advising clients orally in Japanese, to drafting in Japanese.

From what I understand, things now are pretty brutal, with quite a few so-called "lifers" choosing to leave.

You indicate that you really want to go to Japan, but can't really up and leave the States. Even in better times, you'd really have to come to Tokyo to pound the pavement. Recently, I have been told by more than one person familar with the market that those few companies that are hiring for positions in house won't pick up airfare for overseas candidates. They use this as a way to screen out people who aren't committed to Japan, and with a large number of multi-lingual people already on the ground, they don't really see the benefit of flying people in from New York or LA for an interview.

You could cold call firms or mine connections in the big foreign firms in Tokyo.

You could get one of the 'use them and throw them away "foreign associate"' jobs at one of the larger Japanese firms. This might be a good idea since you indicate that you are interested in spending only a year or two in Japan.

You could look for a position at a local company in the same industry that has a branch in Japan and hope to be transferred there sometime after being hired.

You could save up some money and study at Temple for a year, or study Japanese at the The Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies.

Bic