A GUIDE TO LIVING AND WORKING IN SINGAPORE

General Work Environment

At Work

Junior lawyers in particular tend to find that they are exposed to better quality work at an earlier stage than they would normally expect if they were working in, say, the London office of a big international firm. In large part this is a result of being a member of a smaller office (see below), that doesn't have anywhere near the same level of resources as a firm will usually have in London, or even in Hong Kong. For the same reason, lawyers can usually expect to undertake a somewhat wider variety of work than they would in a bigger office.

A consequence of greater front line exposure is more client contact, both in pure business situations and upon client relationship/marketing events. This can provide an opportunity to prove your worth in a way that may not arise until much later elsewhere.

Working Hours

Singapore is generally considered to have a much more laid-back lifestyle than Hong Kong, and this translates into a widely held belief that working hours are shorter. Certainly there is not the same culture in the international firms of working at weekends, but in terms of hours worked during a day of the week, ordinarily there is not a great deal of difference. Whenever you are working to close a deal, you can expect to work long hours regardless of where you are.

Office Size

As mentioned above, the international firms tend to focus on limited practice areas in Singapore and the offices are smaller than they would be if they were full service. Furthermore, given the restriction on doing local work, there is simply not the amount of work around to justify even the size of offices that firms tend to have in Hong Kong. The biggest of the international firms tend to have somewhere in the region of 25 lawyers. However, other international firms have no more than 3 or 4 lawyers in Singapore.

Salary Levels

Due to the relatively small number of overseas lawyers in Singapore, the salary market is not as developed as in Hong Kong, probably the closest comparison. As a result, there can be quite a divergence between what different international firms pay. At one end of the scale, some firms will pay the same or very similar to what equivalent lawyers will earn in Hong Kong. To an extent, that is justified because although Singapore is noticeably cheaper, tax rates are higher than in Hong Kong. However, other firms will base their salaries on what they pay equivalent lawyers in their London office, although there are usually various adjustments to be made on account of one thing and another. In whichever event, you will earn enough to enjoy an excellent standard of living, while at the same time being able to put plenty aside for a rainy day.