CML has been placing lawyers for over 15 years and we have trusted relationships with many of the top financial firms in all major offshore financial centers. If you are looking to take your career offshore or make a strategic career move, our team can help.
Why Offshore?
With the large number of registered companies and domiciled investment funds located offshore, you would expect there to be an equally large in-house legal market. However, the vast majority of these entities do not conduct any significant business operations in offshore jurisdictions. Accordingly, the in-house market is very small (for example, there are only approximately only 30 in-house lawyers currently working in the Cayman Islands at the time of writing). Things are growing slowly with an increase in operating companies redomiciling to or launching offshore, particularly in the fintech space so we are starting to see more in-house counsel positions than we have in the past.
Quality of Work
The type of work an in-house lawyer does while offshore will be exactly the same as an onshore in-house lawyer. The specifics of any role will obviously depend on the nature of the company and the business it conducts. The typical industries that have hired in-house counsel in recent years are reinsurance, family offices, and fintech companies (i.e. blockchain and crypto).
What Experience Are Employers Looking For?
The type of experience required depends wholly on the hiring company. With in-house roles, the preference tends to be to hire lawyers who are already located in the jurisdiction as there is a large private practice talent pool and in-house is an attractive proposal. However, where sector-specific experience is required such as reinsurance or fintech, then it is often the case that companies will need to seek talent from overseas.
