Hello from Russia! I am Yuliya Vinokurova, Kinney Recruiting’s resident recruiter in Russia. Yes, Russia is not really Asia of course, but let’s call it the Eurasia Chronicles for a day. While ensconced in my nicely warmed office in St. Petersburg (I split time between St. Petersburg, Moscow and Miami), I am pleased to be able to inform our readership that the market in Russia for lateral associates has finally begun to thaw, at least a little bit, with a few firms now hiring (mostly mid-level US cap markets associates, fluent in Russian). 
We now have several urgent US associate needs in Moscow. This is a remarkable development and the suddenness of it is a bit surprising to me, considering there were practically no US associate openings as recent as one month ago. For about 15 months there has been very little lateral US associate movement in the Russian legal market, while many firms had layoffs here (as recently as summer ‘08, most biglaw firms in Moscow had urgent needs for US and UK background associates, which they then promptly cancelled).
Although most US and UK firms in Moscow are still not hiring and likely will not be for some time, there are four of our client firms who have asked us to provide candidates just in the last week. In fact, ironically, Robert and Robert came across one of the new openings while in NYC yesterday meeting with management of one of our client firms there, regarding their HK / China expansion. Their Moscow office came up in the meeting, due to its recent success and new hiring needs. Their Moscow 4 to 7 year US associate opening is so new that we are the first recruiting firm to hear about it and they are just going to leave it with us for a while, expecting that we can, as usual, deliver a handful of great candidates in the next week or two and help them start the interview process in early January, after the holidays.
This particular client is one of the oldest and most respected western firms with a presence in Moscow. The office has a variety of relationships with Russian clients covering a broad array of industries, from energy and infrastructure to financial management. The office has grown significantly in the last few years. The office head is likely to become head of his entire international law firm in the near future. Most importantly, because of the work available, the stature of the office, and the experience level needed for this position, the prospects for eventual advancement to partnership for the successful 4+ year cap markets candidate seem relatively high.
The new US associate hire (or possibly two hires) will likely come from Moscow, NYC or London.
Admittedly, talking about jobs in Russia on the Asia Chronicles could be seen as an “expansive” view of Asia. There are several reasons why writing about this here is relevant: first, much of Russia is in Asia, for what that is worth; second, my personal practice involves extensive work in the “traditional” Asian markets (I am a part of Kinney’s Asia team and visit our clients in Hong Kong from time to time) so I have spoken to many of our readers at one time or another; third, I’m very much interested in Asia. I live in St. Petersburg because, although I am a citizen of the United States, this is my family home. I grew up here before moving the US in 1996 to attend college (Boston College) and start a professional career. I keep an apartment in Miami, my American home, but I have spent the last six months in Russia save for a few short absences, and I intend to be here indefinitely, as we are very committed to building up our presence in Russia leading up to an eventual rebound in biglaw hiring here. I travel often to Moscow, which is obviously our most active market in this region of the world. Many of our clients here have operations in Baku, Warsaw, Prague, and Kiev, among other places in Eastern Europe. My niche is moving US associates from US to Russia and also within Russia. Although I am mainly in Russia for now, I typically split time between the US and Russia and will travel to NYC on occasion for meetings with candidates that are interested in a move to Moscow or other Eastern European markets (again, similar to how Robert handles our outbound Asia recruiting). I also have done a lot of work in the past with moving US associates to London, as part of Russia focused practices there.
Write to use at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com for additional details on these positions. I look forward to talking to more of our readers about Russia and other markets.
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