GUIDE TO LIVING AND WORKING IN BANGKOK

General Work Environment

At Work

As alluded to above, you can expect to be given a good deal of responsibility from an early stage in your career, whether that involves marketing to clients, dealing with clients face to face or undertaking good quality work with perhaps more limited supervision than you might expect in a bigger office.

Thailand is often referred to as the "Land of the Smile", and it is for very good reason because Thais are a very friendly, open race of people. Therefore working in an office in Thailand can be an extremely positive and sociable experience, from which you can expect to make a lot of friends amongst both the Thais and the ex-pats in the office.

Working Hours

There are no hard and fast rules, and, as everywhere, lawyers work the hours necessary to close a deal. However, when pressure of work does not force you to be in the office, there are not necessarily the same pressures, felt by lawyers in certain offices, to be seen around the office late at night or at the weekend. Unlike in some Asian countries, Saturday working is not standard in the international firms in Thailand.

Office Size

As referred to above on more than one occasion, the offices of international law firms in Bangkok, with only very few exceptions, are small. Those firms that are somewhat bigger tend to have a vast majority of Thai lawyers and therefore are in essence more of a local than an international practice. In fact, given the visa issues, all of the firms have a majority of Thai lawyers and the number of ex-pat lawyers is usually significantly less than fifty percent of the total number of lawyers in the office.

Salary Levels

Due to the limited number of international law firms with offices in Bangkok and the limited number of overseas qualified lawyers working in them, the market for such lawyers has not properly developed and market salaries don't really exist. As a result, different firms have adopted different approaches to how they pay their Thailand based overseas qualified lawyers. Perhaps the most common approach is to base the salaries on what equivalent lawyers are earning in London. However, on top of that, secondees in particular would usually expect to get some form of housing allowance.

Tax is paid at progressive rates, starting, after a tax free allowance, at 5% and rising to a top rate of 37% (on taxable income over 4 million Baht, which is approximately US$100,000), although there are various deductions that can be made when calculating taxable income.