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‘As an NQ lawyer, would moving offshore damage my career?’

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By Legal Cheek on

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Change of scene


In our latest Career Conundrum, a soon-to-be qualified solicitor is looking for a new role overseas but is worried about what impact it might have on their legal career.

“Hi Legal Cheek. I’ve got a question for you career conundrum section which I don’t think you have covered before. So I am nearing qualification at a law firm in London and I am looking for change of scene. While internally the firm has signalled that NQs who want to stay on will be offered a role (it’s not a big cohort), I have been considering a move to BVI [British Virgin Islands] or Bermuda. This wouldn’t be long-term as I’d like to return to England, and possibly London, after a few years.”

“My question comes from things I’ve heard from some lawyers and seen on message boards, that spending time overseas like this can hurt your career when you come back to the UK. I’m not sure I really believe that, but I’d love to hear from others who’ve done it. Thank you and please keep me anonymous.”

If you have a career conundrum, email us at tips@legalcheek.com.

51 Comments

Kirkland NQ

Don’t do it. There are no good roads in those places and your Lambo will be chipped and damaged. Wait till you’re a partner and have yacht money.

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(22)(52)

Tough crowd

Your jokes aren’t funny anymore.

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(18)(5)

Go with the flow

It really depends on what practice area you’re in but generally, it’s better to move after a few years. However, life is too short so if you want the offshore lifestyle for a couple of years, go for it

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(35)(2)

Perspective

A friend of mine did this when he was about 40 and working at a so-so smallish regional firm, not earning a huge amount, his career having taken a few twists and turns that were no reflection on him and his work. Worked in Cayman and Bermuda for about 4 years. On the basis of experience gained he landed an excellent job in a much better firm when he got back, and was later made partner. Quality will out.

I wouldn’t do it as a NQ, I’d stay a year at least and then do it.

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(36)(3)

Offshore lawyer

I made the move offshore. I make much more money and my hours are a lot better than my friends in London.

You could make the same money at a US or MC firm but why do that when the lifestyle is so much better offshore?

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(28)(1)

Offshore Senior

Do it! life is short – go get your money.

The truth is that 99.9% of the population doesn’t care. A lawyer is a lawyer. Only snobby and bitter lawyers living in places like London still riding the “prestige” myth and paying 60% tax will judge a move like this. But at the end of a day we’re all just sat behind a computer typing words on a screen. So why not do that in a location you enjoy.

But if you’re concerned about development and quality of work in BVI, consider UAE as a much better alternative instead.

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(60)(5)

Ken

I am a legal recruiter and recruit for the offshore jurisdictions, having previously worked in the BVI as a lawyer before I moved into recruitment.

First of all, you’re not going to be going to Bermuda as an NQ – you need to be at least 3PQE so unfortunately that jurisdiction is out for you.

With BVI I would say you should only go there as an NQ if you are qualifying into disputes. You’d get great experience far above and beyond what you’re likely to get in just about any disputes team in London and it will absolutely stand out on your CV in a few years’ time if you decide to return onshore. For anything other than disputes, you want to have at least 1, possibly 2 years of onshore (or Channel Islands) experience to give you that standard base of knowledge and practice before you go to BVI unless you don’t have any plans to return onshore.

There is of course the possibility of making a return to one of the offshore firms’ London offices or going further afield to Hong Kong, Singapore etc. once you’ve got that BVI experience under your belt, so you may not need to return to an onshore firm.

If you’re wanting to qualify into another practice area, you’d probably be better looking at the Channel Islands (although the salaries there have not kept pace with the big London firms – even with the lower 20% income tax). Work/life balance in all the jurisdictions is going to be better than London though, without a doubt.

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(38)(3)

Little goblin of law

How about 4-5 PQE, looking at BVI as potential long term. In Corporate, so M&A stuff. What’s your view on that move?

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(7)(1)

Ken Okumura

If you’ve got good onshore experience under your belt then absolutely – nothing stopping you doing that kind of move. I moved to BVI at 4PQEish after working at a MC firm and didn’t have much difficulty in moving back to London after 3 years in BVI. I ended up being hired by SJ Berwin, but had interest from a few other firms as well and I think I only used two recruiters to look back in London so it wasn’t a particularly strong effort on my part to cover the whole market.

At 4-5PQE though you could also look at Cayman. It depends what you want out of the move. Cayman has more creature comforts and pays better with 0% income tax, but BVI is a much more genuine Caribbean experience – it’s an archipelago consisting of lush undulating islands and you get to see other islands when you’re driving into work, but in Cayman the only things you see out to sea are cruise ships as it’s even far from the other Cayman Islands. Grand Cayman is also pretty much flat!

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(15)(1)

He's Just Ken

Why did you leave? Is it because everywhere else you’d be a ten?

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(8)(2)

Ken Okumura

I realised I am Kenough. Not sure I would be a 10 anywhere though!

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(17)(0)

Roger That

Work/life balance is definitely not better in Hong Kong than it is in London.

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(8)(1)

Onshore

At NQ you are more jurisdiction-restricted (e.g. Bermuda requires 3 PQE to grant work permits), so actually research carefully where you would be eligible to work. The type/pace of work will be different which may or may not act against you in future, but honestly, if you’re at a good firm and get good experience, there are unlikely to be any significantly negative career implications.

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(5)(0)

Tax dodger

Agree with this and to add, for some it acts as a shop window for a move to City firms – worked offshore and know plenty of juniors who moved to US/MC firms after a few years in the offshore world.

The practice areas also tend to be broader than City firms, which means you get exposure to a variety of matters, albeit less in the detail and not leading the transaction – the latter is probably the steepest learning curve when moving back from the offshore!

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(2)(0)

No, no, no

As a NQ it is a terrible idea. NQ’s can’t get work permits in the decent jurisdictions. They will maybe get a paralegal permit, and then be paid paralegal rates and nothing better on the CV afterwards.

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(1)(25)

Ken

This is not accurate.

Bermuda and Cayman, yes… you need 3PQE to be admitted so you can’t move there.

BVI you can move as an NQ (I’ve got two NQs starting in disputes this summer). They are moving as associates, as they should be. In fact in BVI there’s very little interest in hiring paralegals for disputes because they can’t recover costs through the court for people who aren’t admitted in the BVI.

In Jersey and Guernsey NQs can (if they need them) get work permits. They might not be able to get housing licenses in all cases (meaning they would have a narrower selection of places to live) – but that doesn’t stop them being an associate

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(17)(2)

Burnout

What is the overall feedback from people who have moved to the Channel Islands? Is the main driver for people coming back to the U.K. more a non-fit living on and island, rather than actually hating the work?

With people coming and going, do you think the possibility of making partner there if you stay is actually greater than if you stick it out in London due to reduced burnout risk etc.? Jersey e.g. looks tempting as a nice place to raise a family and still be within 2-3 hours of London to avoid island fever. Is there real potential to earn good money long term? Salaries seem low.

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(2)(0)

Ken Okumura

I would think the non-fit people would weed themselves out fairly quickly usually. The medium term returnees are usually because of family situations like ageing parents/grandparents etc. Or because of particular decisions about schooling kids. Very good schools in the Channel Islands both state and private. A lot of the private schools are significantly cheaper than the UK too.

As to partnership, I think if it suits someone to stick it out and they’re averagely competent or above, then the partnership odds are probably better than they would be for that person back in the UK.

Salaries aren’t comparable at junior to mid level with the nuts London salaries but with the lower 20% income tax, once you get to a more senior level the gap starts narrowing once you factor in the lower tax on the bonus as well as the base. Partnership can be pretty lucrative (equity levels are kept pretty hush) but people do very well and aren’t paying the tax they would be back in the UK, nor likely doing the same hours or thankless BD exercises to win work.

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(4)(0)

Burnout

What is the work/life balance like in reality?

Jagged Edge

Good work, boring location. I was living/working in Jersey over Covid as a 1yr PQE and got exposure to high quality work (that I would not have had exposure if I were in London). As soon as London opened back on I was gone. You can only go the same restaurant a certain number of times! Don’t regret the move but it was a means to an end. In hindsight, waiting until I was 3 PQE and moving back to Cayman (I spent a year there as a paralegal) would have been more profitable and fun.

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(3)(0)

Burnt

And what if you have a young family? Appreciate you were 1PQE

offshore

on the question re Jersey specifically, my view would be that it depends what you want and you have to decide that before you come.

The fundamental question for me was whether I wanted to live in London or not. I didn’t mind my job but knew pretty quickly day-to-day life there wasn’t for me. And crucially I knew that wasn’t going to change particularly with seniority / more money.

I knew for personal reasons I didn’t want to be far from the UK. Guernsey isn’t that well-connected whereas Jersey has good transport links. Went to visit and felt I could settle there. Even when you’re busy a walk down to the beach at lunchtime makes a real difference.

Work/life isn’t as good as some claim (or at least if you are actually building a career here it isn’t) but it is much improved. the issue is that especially in transactional areas you are on lots of different matters at once. that means that periods of complete calm are rare. The flipside is that because the offshore role on a good chunk of those transactions will be self-contained, periods of intense MC/US style hours are also pretty rare. You can settle into billing 25-40 hrs a week quite easily.

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(1)(0)

Burnout

If you go into it with your eyes open (i.e., it won’t be 9-5) do you think that makes it more manageable? What would you say average finish time is in a transactional department?

Is there much to do or do you get bored easily? We’re quite outdoorsy so looks like we’d enjoy it in summer. When the weather is crap in the winter, we have so many friends in London with spare rooms etc. we think we could get away from “island fever”?

With a young family, it seems to have more pluses than negatives compared to central London. Easy to make friends there or are they small town islanders?

offshore

Responding to ‘Burnout’ below:

– yes absolutely. 9-5 isn’t realistic but an average of say 9-7 definitely is. I think to make it work you have to like or at least tolerate –some– of what you do in London but want to make some moderate changes. So that still means having an interest in the underlying transactions and wanting to experience a broad spread of work.

– For me personally there’s plenty to do. Summers I think are objectively better here (especially as London feels more and more like a furnace with every year that passes). If ‘something to do’ means great restaurants, beach days, cliff walks you will be happy here. the caveat is that if ‘something to do’ means theatre a few times a month, the Royal Opera House, Premier League football most weeks you might not be. Personally I’m alright with the trade-off that I get on a plane when I want that. But if you fundamentally love city life you might not be.

– I think it is perfect for young families. So much safer, lower school fees. You will meet plenty people in the same position.

– Come and visit, preferably more than once. And not just for interview with firms filling your time. I am always surprised by people who turn up without visiting especially since it’s so near. Bring your partner if they’d be joining you and get a sense for the place.

Two cents

Bad idea to go offshore generally. You’ll be a post box and you should only go there if you have no ambitions and have hit a roadblock in your career here.

If you want a change, try the UAE, Hong Kong or Singapore. Way better than offshore jurisdictions.

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(6)(31)

Cicero Lite

If post boxes get paid $250k base plus bonus (tax free) a post box sounds ideal.

Also worth considering from a health perspective. Ever compared a LDN/NY lawyer profile picture with the lawyer themself? Scary. Not much hairline left!

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(27)(4)

Tax Dodger

Would you prefer to retire at 50 or 68?

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(8)(2)

Why pay the leftists to blow your hard earned money?

Exactly, $1 income offshore, tax free = £1.50 pre-tax income in the UK for highest rate earners.

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(5)(0)

A jaundiced barrister

You clearly don’t understand how marginal tax rates work. £1 offshore is likely to be about £1.30, even for high earners.

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(0)(0)

2pqe

What are the big offshore firms? I don’t think any on the US/MC/SC firms have offices offshore.

What are the salaries like?

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(0)(0)

offshore

5 main ones would be Ogier, Mourant and Carey Olsen (Channel Islands-based but in the Caribbean), and Walkers and Maples (Caribbean-based but (especially Walkers) in the Channel Islands too.

I think there’s a big variation across jurisdictions in terms of which firm is the best choice. Also the cultural differences you get anywhere.

NQ in CIs is mid-70s which doesn’t sound amazing but probably equivalent to c.90k in London. What you don’t get is the bunching that’s common in London – pay rises are on average about 8-12k per year.

By 7/8Q at a top firm c.150k is realistic which is equivalent to c.200k in London.

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(9)(0)

Onshore

How about in the Caribbean?

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(1)(1)

Cayman

You are misinformed. I am here in Cayman, and the top-level pay is around US$200k for 5pqe, up to US$300k for 9-10pqe. And right at the very, very top, the equity partners at Maples are pushing eight digits.

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(2)(1)

offshore

Not ‘misinformed’ but by CIs I meant ‘Channel Islands’ not ‘Cayman Islands’, hence the potential confusion.

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(1)(0)

Pete

While this perspective may not be widely appreciated, I BELIEVE IT IS IMPORTANT to share honesty about offshore legal work. As someone working offshore, I can say it’s not suited for everyone. If you’re highly intelligent, ambitious, and enjoy complex legal challenges, offshore roles typically don’t offer the mental engagement you might expect. I have my reasons I am working offshore and have accepted what I have signed up for with the skill set I have.

Many recruiters and others talk about the quality of offshore work, but in reality, offshore lawyers mainly serve as support staff for onshore lawyers. EVERYONE IN PRACTICE KNOWS THIS (ESPECIALLY HIRING PARTNERS WHO WORK WITH OFFSHORE LAWYERS)- I DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE PRETEND OTHERWISE. There’s often little opportunity to work on complex matters.

If you are about to qualify into a top London city firm and have high career aspirations, working offshore as an NQ will be a career setback. Such roles may give the impression that you had limited prospects when trying to return onshore, unless there’s an exceptional surge in hiring like in 2021/2022.

Don’t be misled by recruiters, many are simply trying to earn commissions to the detriment of their candidates, and standards for offshore placements can be lower, making placements easier but not necessarily beneficial to the solicitor long-term. I’ve worked with many recruiters over my career and MOST ARE NOT GOOD. A few gems are out there, but most are just average middlemen.

Most offshore lawyers are also quite protectionist and easily threatened, often unable to compete at the highest levels.

If you’re not too bright, get overwhelmed quickly with the fast pace of practice in London and are comfortable with a more basic lifestyle, offshore can be a financially rewarding option with less work. However, if things go wrong in the future, your options will be limited, and your experience may not translate well onshore, especially if you went offshore as an NQ.

Ultimately, if you are not being offered an NQ position at your firm or are considering offshore because you are at a regional or high street firm, it might be the best available option. But for those with genuine high-level career ambitions, it is worth considering other paths.

Hope this helps.

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(22)(25)

Rupert

^ Pete is telling porkies.

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(14)(4)

Fish and chips

Chip. Shoulder.

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(8)(3)

No, no, no

Not sure if Pete has worked offshore but there’s a planet sized chip on the shoulder right there XD

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(11)(6)

Barry Ster

As an NQ, I feel like you will be strangling your career at birth going now unless you’re at a high st / regional firm facing a future of RTAs or slips and trips. You’d be better off getting 3/4 years under your belt in a decent London shop if you can, then reassessing if offshore is a good idea.

More broadly, if you’re going to make the move, you need to do it with your eyes open and do *a lot* of due diligence. I agree with the above comment about recruiters: there are some diamonds out there (of which Ken is one, actually), but many of them simply don’t have your best interests at heart – they just want the commission. Unfortunately, some of them will actively lie to you.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that whilst there are some very good lawyers offshore, these are the exception. The sad reality is that many people who end up in BVI / Cayman / Bermuda are bang average (at best) so there will be a sense in the wider market / your peer group that you are going offshore because something has gone wrong with your career. You can use this to your advantage if you are good, as some firms allow talent to rise quickly. However, many of the older / more established shops adopt a “time-served” approach (so again, do some research).

I can’t speak to Bermuda, but BVI is the most authentic experience, as Ken says. However, it can feel very claustrophobic as it is very basic and not well served by flight connections.

Cayman probably offers the best money / most sophisticated lifestyle (and has direct flights to Miami, LA, NY, etc), but even then: (1) it’s not open to NQs; (2) your net position will not be appreciably better than a good London salary (notwithstanding 0% tax) because rent, groceries, etc are *insanely* expensive; (3) it’s a cultural desert where the main out of office activities are pickleball, alcoholism, or having an affair (look up the “Cayman curse”); and (4) as Ken said, it’s not a good looking island (the beaches are genuinely amazing, but otherwise it’s a splat of sand in the ocean).

The key point is that you have to be really selective on where to go, when to go, and which firm to go to (especially if you have any plans of returning onshore). My strong advice, if this is still something that you are considering, would be to go with an established offshore brand as the work will be better and you’ll have a better chance of returning to a good job onshore. As a counterpoint to test this advice, there is a mid-tier U.S. firm with an offshore presence that touts itself as being a ninja / elite outfit paying the best salaries, but 10 minutes of desktop research would reveal a near 100% turnover rate, a notoriously toxic culture, no measurable reputation outside of the American market, and nowhere near the same amount of work as the pure offshore firms. So whilst you might get more money in the short term, that comes with the risk of being “trapped” with more limited options in the longer term. Choose wisely!

Otherwise, I agree with Pete above. The work is not as demanding offshore and you’ll be playing second fiddle to onshore lawyers 99% of the time. If that’s your bag, go for it…

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(12)(3)

Cayman

” your net position will not be appreciably better than a good London salary” – This is seriously misinformed. Yes your groceries are 700 quid a month rather than 200, but (at the top associate level) you’re clearing GBP 20k pcm rather than GBP 7k. Plus bonuses can be very good (circa 100k) which makes a massive difference tax free.

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(1)(2)

Simon Scott

As a recruiter who has specialised in recruiting for offshore firms for 16 years – moving offshore from a major City firm as early as NQ level may well limit your options when looking to return to a major City firm, because you are still very junior in terms of experience and skills at that stage, but for that reason most City lawyers don’t consider moving offshore until they have gained at least two or three years’ PQE anyway. With regard to moving offshore after gaining say 3 years’ PQE at a City firm, I have comes across numerous examples of such lawyers who have returned to London after a few years’ offshore and joined a major City firm, including even Magic Circle and US firms. Sometimes they have even left London as a corporate lawyer and returned to London as a funds lawyer. I would though say that if you are going to return onshore, you should probably do it within (say) 3 years of having moved offshore.

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(6)(4)

Worked in Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing, Toronto

You can go offshore, you can leave England and Wales to go into a different jurisdiction. I wouldn’t move now at NQ. I would stay for at least 3 years. You need proper qualified UK experience, this is to ensure that you can return to the UK when you decide to return.

I know this because I worked in 4 different locations and it took me 6 years to just get an interview to return back to the UK, because I didn’t have proper UK experience.

Recruiters, if you get a bad one, can be the worse people to talk to because they do not understand what is going on. Imagine working 996 in Beijing for an international chinese firm working daily with americans and global brands only to be told oh its not in uk? You do not have UK experience, that is going to be tough to sell. Even working in Sydney, UK recruiters turn their nose up at you.

It took me 6 years of building experience to get home. It won’t hurt your career as you will bring different experiences and you will work hard but it will delay any return to the UK. If you leave now and then decide oh its not what I thought its going to be a long road before you return.

Also factor in the cost of moving to the new country. Rent, furnishing, flight travel, tax, your pension, visa costs.

But I did have fun.

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(8)(1)

Big Law Associate

England is great. It has no tax, sandy beaches, beautiful weather, and if you work at a big law firm there you have a work/life balance, a low hours target, and great bosses.

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(5)(2)

Thee jokers make a wueen

In the north, yes. But your income as a partner is probably less than my summer interns.

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(0)(0)

Offshore lifer

I know I am a bit late to the party but my response would be NO don’t do it. Get more experience onshore and if later on you want to decide to go offshore go do it.

I speak from someone who did go offshore as an NQ. I did OK but for sure I probably didn’t have as much legal skills as someone who has had experience onshore.

I did try to get back onshore after being offshore after 4-5 years but it proved impossible.

Yes it is possible to go back onshore, but its hard. From people who I have known who have gone back onshore they both had onshore post NQ experience and were basically in funds. So that’s why you benefit from having some onshore experience.

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(3)(1)

Cayman can be decent, but preferably later in your career

I’m working in Cayman, and I have also visited BVI. I agree with the person who wrote this:

“…BVI is the most authentic experience, as Ken says. However, it can feel very claustrophobic as it is very basic and not well served by flight connections.

Cayman probably offers the best money / most sophisticated lifestyle (and has direct flights to Miami, LA, NY, etc), but even then: (1) it’s not open to NQs; (2) your net position will not be appreciably better than a good London salary (notwithstanding 0% tax) because rent, groceries, etc are *insanely* expensive; (3) it’s a cultural desert where the main out of office activities are pickleball, alcoholism, or having an affair (look up the “Cayman curse”); and (4) as Ken said, it’s not a good looking island (the beaches are genuinely amazing, but otherwise it’s a splat of sand in the ocean).”

I would caveat that as follows (numbers reflecting those above):

(2) If you live carefully, you can control your costs. It is correct however that the cost of living is extremely high, and that is causing recruitment issues.

(3) Agreed that there’s not much to do. I don’t think the ‘Cayman curse’ (people getting divorced) is a major issue. Rather, I think people live under a microscope, so such divorces are more visible. There are however very few single people, so if you arrive single, expect to remain so. I would be wary of recommending it to people who haven’t lived live a little first. It’s ideal for those about to start a family though, because your horizons are going to shrink rapidly to nappy-changing and child-rearing, so you don’t care that options outwith your home are minimal.

(4) The beaches actually aren’t that great: the novelty wears off VERY fast. Cayman is great if you like scuba diving, living in a hot environment, proximity to the US (without the US tax obligations), and paying 0% income tax. It’s not great if you have lots of friends and family in the UK with whom you want to remain in close contact.

Cayman law firms are have increasing problems recruiting in the last few years:

1. Onshore law firms salaries have increased since the 2021 Covid madness, so Cayman firms can’t match them.

2. Work-life balance has improved, so escaping to the Caribbean (where you’ll be in thrall to client in both the US and Hong Kong time zones) is less attractive.

3. WFH means that people’s commute has typically reduced by 40% (i.e. 2 days/week), which again diminishes the relative attraction of Cayman.

4. Cayman politicians have famously mismanaged growth, with the consequence that the island is frequently a massive traffic jam, and one with an extortionate cost of living.

The accountants have had the same problems, but worse, because they’re less profitable and therefore can’t pay decent salaries. That’s why you’re seeing increasing numbers of Indians and South Africans, for whom Cayman salaries are still, on balance, worth it.

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(2)(0)

A jaundiced barrister

FILTH = “Failed in London, Tried Hong Kong”

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(3)(2)

No longer offshore

So interesting to read these comments. I ended up offshore after the recession as a corporate paralegal and qualified whilst offshore. Given the turmoil and lack of TCs at that time it was the right move for me but I agree with commentators who have suggested you get a few years PQE under your belt first.

Quality of work just depends on where you’re working – in one job, I worked on really good, large transactions and developed my skills, in another it was quite dull and fitted the stereotype of offshore lawyers.

Coming back to UK was hard and it definitely slowed down my career progression. I’ve been in regional firms since and there was always a perception with recruiters and some partners that I worked with, that my offshore work wasn’t ‘proper legal work’ which was frustrating and inaccurate. Ultimately, those restrictions to my career have compounded over time and were a factor in deciding to move in-house.

A strong network and mentor might have eased my return to UK so in your circumstances, I would build my career a bit before going offshore. I definitely recommend going though!

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(0)(0)

Burnout

Where were you offshore?

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(0)(0)

Just a thought

Offshore opportunities do exist for high street (crime/ litigation) and local government experience (prosecutions and litigation and children services) . Normally 2 /3 years pqe.

Keep an eye on law society gazette jobs. Posts are available with government of Cayman Islands, BVI, Ascension, St Helena and Falklands.

Check the pay package especially if it includes accommodation or rental allowance.

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(1)(0)

Anon

I’d do it at 2 years PQE. Get some experience first and then go. When you get back you can show you’ve already practised in the UK so it won’t be a massive adjustment back.

That’s just my personal opinion though. If the move is right for you, including timing etc. then go for it. If you’re determined and hungry enough you can make things work.

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(0)(0)

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