"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses... and your lawyers?" Marsden's guide to breaking into the US legal industry from abroad.
Market demand
Chambers Associate: Which practice areas in the US are currently most open to hiring international associates? Why?
Jonathan Walmsley and David Nicol: Leveraged and debt finance has been a very active area for the last 18 months, and demand for lawyers remains very high. The difference now compared to 12 months ago is that all global markets are looking for debt finance lawyers and law firms are having to entice lawyers to move internationally, given the low local supply of talent.
We’d also highlight project finance and energy & infrastructure projects. Historically, the elite firms hired project finance lawyers and not project development lawyers, but as they have now found higher levels of profitability in projects delivery, project development lawyers (specifically attorneys with EPC experience) are now in high demand. There is a global shortage of talented project finance lawyers. Project finance has been the most in-demand practice area over the past two years.
"Project finance has been the most in-demand practice area over the past two years."
On private equity and M&A: M&A demand is beginning to return in NYC after a slower couple of years. Not all firms are hiring in M&A as there has been a bifurcation in the market with fewer firms acting on more of the larger mega M&A deals. Demand is highest for lawyers who will come in at the 3rd to 5th year level in the US (after discount). Candidates with a combination of strong PE experience and private M&A experience are in most demand. Those with a public M&A focus traditionally find it more difficult to move. There is limited demand for more junior candidates. Candidates with an energy & infrastructure M&A focus are also sought after.
Capital markets is coming back and we are seeing hiring of international lawyers start to pick up. Canadian lawyers are the preferred international candidate in this area. Given the subdued IPO market, candidates with debt capital markets experience are in more demand (particularly high-yield experience).
With structured finance, we are at the point in the economic cycle where structured finance attorneys are in demand again. Candidates with a breadth of experience advising across different products are in most demand (particularly CLOs).
Funds activity is starting to pick up and firms are again showing interest in international lawyers – specifically those with strong PE fund formation and secondaries experience.
Outstanding international lawyers can also get traction in executive compensation & benefits, antitrust, and tech transactions.
CA: How has the demand changed over the past few years?
Walmsley and Nicol: Demand peaked immediately post Covid and dipped again in 2023 and 2024. Demand has started to slowly rise again in transactional areas over the last two years with most demand being for debt finance and project finance lawyers. M&A lawyers have found it more difficult to move due to the drop in M&A deal volume for several years.
CA: Which countries do you often see associates relocating to the US from?
Walmsley and Nicol: The top three are Australia, Canada, and Singapore.
- Australia – Australian lawyers are well trained, work hard, and have access to a prized E3 visa. Many Australian lawyers have now made partner in the US – further cementing this career pathway for future Australians.
- Canada – arguably the easiest international group of lawyers to transition to the US and no visa issues because of the TN visa. The salary uplift makes a US market attractive to Canadians as well as the proximity to home and of course the larger deals on offer.
- Singapore – Singaporeans have a special category of H1B visas giving them easy access to US work rights. They are also well educated from top universities, respected for their work ethic, and are only now being properly discovered as a credible talent pool for top NY firms.
Candidate profiles
CA: What candidate profiles tend to stand out the most?
Walmsley and Nicol: Candidates who have standout academic transcripts, academic awards, are on the Dean’s List, have academic scholarships, first class honours, or Magna or Summa Cum Laude (or equivalents) get the attention of hiring partners. US firms love hiring the brightest lawyers and a top ranked student in a particular cohort stands out.
Additionally, candidates with a stable resume (US firms are risk averse and do not like to see multiple moves on a CV) coming from a highly ranked practice (ideally a Chambers Band 1 ranked group) stand out.
On top of this, a quality deal sheet is essential. Practicing at a top firm is not enough – significant emphasis is placed on the quality of the deal sheet.
"Practicing at a top firm is not enough – significant emphasis is placed on the quality of the deal sheet."
CA: Are firms more likely to hire junior, mid, or senior level associates from overseas? How do firms decide on class level and seniority for international hires?
Walmsley and Nicol: Most international lawyers get a standard two-year haircut from their local year of admission in transferring to the US, but when the market is hot and the candidate is high quality and has competing offers, a lesser discount may be applied. This is on a case-by-case basis. Generally speaking, more senior candidates will get more than a two-year discount in order to give them enough of a runway to make partner. International lawyers tend not to come in at more than a 6th year.
The hiring sweet spot for firms would be 3rd – 5th years when hiring international lawyers.
CA: Is there an ‘ideal window’ in a candidate’s career to make the move?
Walmsley and Nicol: In some ways the earlier the better to get on the US career track and to build relevant experience as early as possible (once they have hit the ‘threshold’ number of years of experience).
Most hiring needs are at 3rd – 6th years in US terms. Once a lawyer has three years of relevant experience in a home market, they start to become really marketable and their popularity grows over the next two to three years, which is the ideal window in which to move.
The big caveat here is that international moves to the US are always market dependent. If the market is flat, lawyers may miss this window and have to wait until the cycle changes and transactional lawyers are in high demand again.
CA: How important is prior US firm experience or a US LLM when it comes to securing a role from overseas?
Walmsley and Nicol: Prior US firm experience is not a prerequisite for transactional lawyers, nor is a US LLM, although firms do love candidates with LLMs and put a high value on academic achievement.
For disputes lawyers and those in areas not so obviously transferrable, an LLM is highly valuable and could be instrumental in securing a job. Most of the big firms do recruit directly out of LLM programmes.
CA: Are there any areas where international candidates’ skills and experience might give them an advantage over domestic US candidates?
Walmsley and Nicol: Plug and play US candidates with relevant experience are always the preferred candidate if of the right caliber. If these lawyers are not available, then firms would prefer to take the best lawyers from international markets. That being said, firms do understand why an international lawyer would like to move to NYC (given the uplift in compensation, sophisticated market, etc). The rationale for local candidates moving laterally will be scrutinized in more detail (to try and ascertain if the candidate is just being pushed out of their current firm).
Assessment
CA: What are the key qualities/skills interviewers are looking to test when assessing an international candidate?
Walmsley and Nicol: Firms are looking to test
- Technical knowledge;
- Level of competence – what they can draft, negotiate, and the role they could play on a deal;
- Assessment of the level at which they would join a team in the US – firms are essentially trying to figure out during an interview process “Can we staff this individual at X class year”;
- Motivation for the move;
- And whether they are willing to work hard.
The process
CA: How willing are US firms to sponsor visas, and how does this affect hiring decisions? Have recent changes to US immigration policy affected patterns of international recruitment, and do you expect further changes in the future?
Walmsley and Nicol: The biggest firms are very willing to sponsor visas for the right Australian, Canadian, and Singaporean candidate, and any other with special visa rights (not H1B visas which are allocated on a lottery basis).
The recent political and immigration landscape in the US has meant fewer Canadian lawyers moving to the US (although the appetite for strong Canadian lawyers from NY, TX, and CA firms remain high).
CA: How long does the process tend to take overall from first contact, to interview, to start date?
Walmsley and Nicol: No one process is the same. The fastest resume to offer process is two weeks but four to six weeks is more common. Start dates for international lawyers take longer because of conflicts and background checks having to clear before lawyers resign and then serve a longer notice period than US lawyers (one to three months). During this time the visa process will be running concurrently.
Career prospects
CA: What is the one thing which, in your experience, international hires find most challenging to adapt to in US firms?
Walmsley and Nicol: The different, more wordy drafting style which has much longer sentences with far less punctuation than they are used to!
CA: Does being an international hire affect partnership prospects?
Walmsley and Nicol: With meritocratic firms – no. There are many examples of international candidates making partner in the U.S.
CA: How common is it for lawyers to spend time as an associate in the US, then return to their home country later in their career?
Walmsley and Nicol: For Australian and Canadian lawyers – very common. The pull home at some point is very strong. However, over the past decade our experience is that international lawyers are staying longer and longer, and a significantly higher proportion are making partner.
Advice
CA: What advice would you give to an international associate looking to relocate to the US?
Walmsley and Nicol: Make the move as soon as the market opens up to you. The timing may not be perfect for you personally but if you miss the window when the market is peaking and you are at the right level, when it next comes round again you may be too senior.
A US career is a stamp of quality on your CV. It will open doors in the future for different opportunities and is CV enhancing.
"If you miss the window when the market is peaking and you are at the right level, when it next comes round again you may be too senior."
