Many thanks
Hi everyone, I'm a London-based solicitor wishing to move to Switzerland in the next year or so. Can anyone recommend a legal recruiter, or other means of finding out about legal jobs, or other jobs an English expatriate might have a chance at? I don't speak French Italian or German so I would be looking at joining an international firm or working in-house in financial services, or for any multinational really.
It depends on what kind of law you do. Switzerland is a hotbed for m&a, cross border litigation, arbitration and so on in firms, then has your usual in-house activities for larger companies.
It isn't really so much about language here as it is what kind of law you do if you want to be an expat lawyer.
That said, I would have a look around on some of the UK/US law firms that do business in Switzerland in the Swiss city you want, or if you want to work in-house, have the usual look around the big companies based here.
A lot of the firms poach from their other offices, and a lot of General Counsel type roles are on the major job boards (see stickys). Because of that, I don't know of any particularly legal headhunters based here that don't also do senior management recruiting. But these too will be found in some of the stickys and EF archives search.
Good luck!
Working in house is probably your best option. But you need to have appropriate experience or be very recently qualified (so that they can effectively treat you as newly qualified and retrain you). If you have, say, 5 years plus in a totally unrelated practice area, you are facing a very big uphill struggle because your level of qualification will dictate a too high salary rate for experience or ability to practice without (much) supervision. So you will be an unusual hire and in the current job market, they don't need to cast the net wide to get good candidates.
Otherwise, there is the possibility of working in the asset wealth management field and several London practices have offices in Geneva (more likely for private tax and trust work than Zurich). Have a browse through Chambers or Legal 500 and you will find which ones.
Finally, many of the multinational lawfirms have a presence in Zurich and/or Geneva but are largely staffed by locally qualified lawyers .. although not always - so you could see if there was an opening for a UK trained solicitor in firms such as these. Again, your years of qualification will be crucial .. the longer in the tooth you are, the less attractive you will be to them.
In house jobs with the large multinationals are often recruited by the usual London based recruiters, so it is worth keeping an eye out in the Times law section. Otherwise they have good inhouse internet job sites so store them in your favourites.
Good luck
Hi Guys,
I recently completed my Legal Practice Course(LPC) in England and hold an LLM in International Law. I also speak both French and English fluently but i have been looking for legal jobs in Geneva, in vain.
I don't have a lot of experience but i have done a few legal jobs here and there so I am not sure what the problem is or where to apply anymore.
Does anyone have any pointers?
Thanks
Is it acceptable within Switzerland to independently approach the HR departments of large MNCs to enquire about legal roles?
I have worked as a lawyer in Switzerland for 2 years now and finding it difficult to search for new opportunities? Especially as there does not seem to me many recruiters here.
Any help is appreciated.