How to ensure they talk to you before they talk to your competitors.

I wrote an article on LinkedIn recently with some tips for offshore lawyers considering a move between jurisdictions.

One issue stood out. How do you approach your current firm about an internal transfer when even asking the question may telegraph a desire to move on?

For many lawyers the simple answer is, you don’t. Instead, you speak to someone like me and start exploring the market.

Not so long ago, a lawyer in the Channel Islands approached me about a move to the Caribbean as they felt they had no safe course to discuss an internal move with their own firm. Meanwhile, we were busy looking for someone with a not dissimilar profile for said firm’s Cayman office!

I’m not complaining, I’m happy to oblige, but it seems a shame that firms are losing good talent without enabling them to explore the possibility of an internal move.

I appreciate that it can be difficult. A Partner is by necessity focused on the performance of their own team and won’t want to lose a valued Associate, even within the firm. But the reality is, if that Associate wants to go, chances are they will find a job somewhere else anyway.

Having a clear and accessible framework for international moves might give you a shot at keeping them. It might also offer some control over timings, enabling you to hire and train a replacement before an internal move is granted. Surely better than scrambling to find cover after a key resignation.

I’m not suggesting guarantees, but rather a policy that sets out how a lawyer can enquire, encourages internal applications, sets expectations (for example, a minimum time served, targets met), and perhaps guarantees an interview when a suitable role arises.

Equally important would be the normalisation of discussing such moves. Could this be achieved by building the question of international mobility into annual appraisals, enabling lawyers to openly express their future aspirations without putting their current role on the line?

Even beyond retention, this could become a valuable recruitment advantage. A junior lawyer choosing between firms in Jersey, might opt for the one that is overt in promoting international opportunities over one with a more byzantine approach.

Most offshore firms can and do facilitate internal moves, and no doubt some of the above is applied some of the time. But few seem to have really solved what can clearly be a sensitive issue.

Get it right?

You cut recruitment costs, strengthen loyalty, and ultimately lead to a bench of lawyers with the ability to advise across multiple jurisdictions.

Get it wrong?

Well, you won’t hear any complaints from me!

Jason Horobinhas been recruiting into the offshore legal markets for over 25 years. If you’re with an offshore law firm, or you’re a lawyer interested in an offshore move, get in touch in confidence and we can arrange a time to speak.