CML has been placing lawyers for over 15 years and we have direct links with all the leading litigation and insolvency lawyers 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?
Offshore jurisdictions are a hotbed for complex litigation, insolvency, and restructuring work. The primary reason for this is the sheer number of investment funds and other corporate structures that choose offshore jurisdictions, such as Cayman, as their domicile. When these structures experience financial distress or are subject to fraud, offshore lawyers and other local insolvency professionals step in and are on the front line. The major offshore jurisdictions, such as Cayman and the BVI, have a highly-regarded court and judiciary which has handled some of the world’s biggest corporate disputes in recent years. These jurisdictions also have flexible, investor-friendly insolvency law as well as bespoke, cutting-edge, cross-border restructuring solutions.
Quality of Work
Whilst transactional lawyers certainly need to make an adjustment when they move to any of the offshore jurisdictions in terms of the working style; litigators and insolvency specialists can normally hit the ground running. Your role offshore will be largely the same as it was onshore. Your client base here will be diverse; encompassing leading international and regional accountancy practices, onshore law firms, financial institutions, private equity sponsors, hedge funds, directors, trustees, and shareholders. As you will know, workflows in the litigation and insolvency market can be unpredictable. This is mirrored offshore. You may have a quiet month followed by a trial or huge cross-border restructuring that takes 3 months.
What Experience Are Employers Looking For?
The relevant experience required depends on the specific role but on the pure litigation side, offshore firms will generally be interested in anyone who has trained at a top onshore firm and has broad commercial lit experience including some exposure to financial services and insolvency matters. On the insolvency/restructuring side, those with some contentious experience are favored. There has been a recent growing demand for candidates with ‘scheme of arrangement’ experience.
