Developing a global legal career: international relocation

In this episode of The SSQ Podcast, host Ben Quarry is joined by James Newton, Head of SSQ New York, and Kumara Mallikaaratchi, Head of SSQ Australia, for a conversation on international relocation and global legal careers.

Drawing on their own experiences of building careers across London, New York, Australia and beyond, they explore what it really takes to move jurisdictions — and why successful relocations require more than just a strong CV.

They discuss:

• The balance between professional ambition and personal lifestyle when relocating
• Why different markets offer very different experiences
• The realities of moving to a new jurisdiction, from bureaucracy to culture 
• How to approach relocation strategically, looking at short-term and long-term goals
• The importance of adapting to new markets rather than trying to replicate what worked elsewhere 
•  How SSQ’s global network helps lawyers and firms navigate international moves 

From launching offices in new jurisdictions to advising lawyers on cross-border careers, this episode offers a practical, honest look at what international relocation really involves.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hi, my name's Ben Quarry, and I'm the host of the SSQ podcast. Today I'm joined by Kamara Malakarachi, head of our Australia office, and James Newton, head of our New York office. Hi guys. Hi Ben. Hi Ben. Thanks for joining me again. You've both been on the podcast already. Today I want to talk about sort of international relocation because it's something that actually all three of us have done. Yeah, all of us have been in London at various points. We're now obviously in Australia, in New York, I'm in LA on the West Coast. Previously I was in Hong Kong and Singapore as well. So we've all moved around the world, right? And increasingly it's something that lawyers are doing, yeah, whether it be sort of routes that have typically happened of Australia to whether it be to London, whether it be to New York, uh, people going from London to New York and vice versa. Um, and what we'd really want to do is actually sort of talk through a little bit of international relocation, also actually uh another thing that you know we've each done is move out to a new jurisdiction to actually launch an office, which again is something that our clients often think about doing. So I guess yeah, Kamara, let's start with you. In terms of sort of your move out to Australia, things that you sort of you know found easy, not so easy, things that you kind of realised from the move. Um, I mean, talk talk to me about how that how that all came down.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Um, yeah, I think when you're looking at relocating, there's very very many different factors that you take into consideration. Um, if we're looking at it from a perspective of lawyers, for example, part of its career, part of it's personal. Yeah. Uh for me, I think I had, well, I grew up just outside of London. Um, I had lived and worked in London for about six years by the time that I relocated. I had basically got to a point where I wanted to do something slightly different, yeah. Um, and basically decided to go to the other side of the world, um, which is very different. Yeah. But as far as ways you can go from London. Pretty much, yeah, pretty much. Um, and for me it's just it was just being outdoors. Um, I think anyone who goes that direction um likes the outdoor lifestyle. I live in Sydney, um, live by the beach, surf in the mornings, it's a very different lifestyle to London.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Um I think a massive factor for me was also that element around career and progression. Um, and I think for a lot of lawyers, it's also a balancing act of understanding there's professional reasons that you move and there's also personal reasons. For me, it was uh a smart much smaller market in Sydney, but a market where I could potentially build a bigger, a better brand or um a brand with the bigger law firms uh quicker than maybe in other jurisdictions. Um I think also moving it is difficult. Um depending on where you go, uh it do bureaucracy can be quite intense. Yeah, yeah. I mean in Australia, I think the biggest factor is it's really far away from anything. Um, you know, I often like the uh the kind of story of if you're flying from Sydney anywhere, it you you fly over Australia for about six hours before you get into any other jurisdiction. So if you're flying to Bali, for example, it's an eight-hour flight, six of those are over Australia. It's a massive country. Yeah, um, and even in that, in Australia, there are different you know, states, uh, similar to you guys, I guess, in the US, right? If you're in Sydney, it's very different from if you're in Perth. Yeah. Um, so I think you know, taking into consideration the facts of what what do you want from a personalised perspective? Um, if you want to be by the beach, Sydney makes sense. If you want to go to somewhere a bit more urban, metropolitan, you go to somewhere like Melbourne.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Um, so uh yeah, it it's a case of considering what you want and then making a decision as to where suits your your personal preferences best.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

James, I assume it's not surfing the Hudson that has attracted you to New York. Uh talk me through sort of what what prompted you to think about New York and um and sort of what how it's been for you.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yeah, I think look, growing up, um I always was particularly interested in the US. I think you know certain parts of their culture is not necessarily quite as outdoorsy as Sydney is, but um Well the West Coast the West Coast is um yeah, thanks for reminding me how warm your life is. Um sports is a huge, you know, huge interest of mine something I've always been interested in. Um can't get enough of it. The US coverage of pretty much anything, not even sports, but pretty much anything is more in-depth, it's more in your face, you get to see more of it. Um, you know, I think interestingly, growing up in a small uh small town at in the north of England, moving to London, my life got busier, it got more interesting, I met more interesting people, there was more to do. Um New York from London is essentially the same jump, it's just turning turning everything up a little bit more. Um I think you know, getting back to what Kamara said on a professional level, um the opportunity to go and work in the largest legal market in the world where the most successful or a number of the most successful partners are, the most lucrative, you know, moves, the the the biggest biggest legal offices. That was hugely um interesting to me. I think having grown up in SSQ, um you know, we work in in I think it's fair to say, probably the best legal recruitment business globally, if you left alone the the US. But there is very little you can do because of how successful our business has been, that allows you the opportunity to make a real a real meaningful difference and be able to sit there and say, nobody's done this before, you know, but for my role in this, this wouldn't have been here. This is the first time we're speaking to this client, to this, to this. So professionally, it it was a huge opportunity. Um I was very fortunate in that respect. But then I think naively at the time I thought it was such a good job that even if I didn't like living in New York, um, it was worth doing it anyway. Yeah, I think after six months I realised that it was a good job. I did love living in New York because um the job was, you know, like most jobs when you're trying to build something incredibly stressful and challenging. Um but I think, you know, as I say, going back to it, just the opportunity to do as much as you want, and and actually something Kamara touched on is like slightly bizarrely, I had only been to the US once before signing my contract to move there. Um, it was I think 20 years ago to go to Disneyland Orlando. Um so it's almost like, oh, you know, what was your experience with the US before moving? It was Mickey Mouse, which I was quite shocked when I got off the plane, and there wasn't Mickey Mouse sat there waiting to greet me. Um, but no, like it's it's been amazing, I guess. And I think you know, some of the things we probably will touch on are the opportunity to take yourself somewhere and be able to kind of you know implant yourself into a new culture, but also I think one of the most interesting parts of relocating is being able to learn every day, yeah, professionally from areas, law firms, partners that we haven't spoken to, but then just on a personal level, you know, having my first Thanksgiving, you know, going to Thanksgiving dinners, going to baseball games, uh a lot of the experiences are first experiences, and that's always very um very fulfilling.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

And one of the attractions for me, because you know, I I'm lucky enough that I've I've worked both as a lawyer and a recruiter out in Asia, obviously worked in London for a long time, now on the West Coast, one of the real attractions is you know, having run you know the team in London for a number of years, the idea that you can build something from scratch, which obviously is something that all three of us are doing. You know, we all started just us in a cupboard somewhere uh with a phone and a laptop uh and sort of built up from there. So I guess in terms of kind of challenges, because this is something that I think people often don't think about when you make a move, is when you first start and you are you know you're used to being in an office of however many people, and suddenly it is just you, and you've got to have that self-discipline to make sure every day you're you know doing everything you need to be doing. So I mean how let's James let's start with you in terms of sort of how you found that initial landing and how you sort of set about getting in front of clients, candidates, etc., in a in a new market where you know people aren't used to you, they you know not used to the accent necessarily. Um, how did you find that?

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah, I think I think the first point just as to moving somewhere new. Um, interestingly, the US is a particularly complex and difficult place to move to, like on a personal level. Things like, you know, the things that you can probably do some research in, so maybe this is slight naivety, but you know, to rent an apartment, you need a bank account to get a bank account, you need a social security number to get a social security number, you need to have been in the country two weeks. A lot of these things just add up, I think. Um you spend a lot of time spending in dollars but paying in pounds. Yes. And I think I spent, you know, initially I had this belief of, you know, got to get going, got to get started. I think actually allowing yourself a little bit of slack, allowing yourself the opportunity to integrate into a culture, build your new friends, build your network. I think that's really important. I think that's advice I'd give anyone. I think, you know, having now grown our team in New York, uh, we've had two more people follow me over, obviously you've got yourself over. I think it's important to get those things in place and relax and feel settled so that actually you can give your all to work, as opposed to just thinking I'm gonna pick up the phone on day one.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

I think going the second point of your question was to, you know, what did you learn and what have you been cognizant of in in moving somewhere? I think look, there is a hopefully a reason why SSQ has been as successful as it has, and hopefully a reason why where we've launched in new jurisdictions, we have, I think, always or almost broadly always done so through people who SSQ knew, who we trusted, who had grown up with the SSQ way of doing things. Case in point next to you. Yeah. I think that's really important. I think the flip side of that is also being self-aware enough to not just go somewhere and say, This is how we do it, this is what we've always done. You have to adapt. I'm yeah, I'm British. Like, not everybody wants to be told. Certainly, American people do not want to be told that England is better, British people are better, and this is how we do everything. And so it's it's blending, it's you know, being SSQ, being British, having that unique personality, but also adapting and taking on cultures, taking on uh business practices, so that you're someone who is improving what they have as opposed to you trying to implant yourself onto a new, you know, into a new business, into a new culture.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Nice. And Kamar, obviously, you first moved to Australia not with SSQ, we'll forgive you for that, but then more recently rejoined the fold at the beginning of uh of 2025. I guess sort of that transition from being in an Australian agency, then transitioning off to be sort of Mr. SSQ Australia, um, yeah, sort of at the very beginning. I mean, how did you find that sort of transition from group to smaller thing, and how did you manage to sort of port across both clients from the network who obviously sort of know who we are, but also people potentially that you you knew of from before in terms of your previous client relationships? Uh yeah, I think that without breaching covenants.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yeah. I think to uh continue uh James's point, uh it's really about nuancing. Yeah. Um I think I really had to adapt when I first moved initially from London to Australia. Um I think Australians are also very different from British people and uh Americans. Um you you realise when you get there that it's a much more laid-back culture, and um Australian lawyers don't really respond well to the London patter, as it were. Um, you know, they're they're far more kind of open-minded, they're very relaxed, they look at their careers in a very different way. Um, we often say out there that, you know, I think in London or definitely in the New York or the US markets, um, you know, work is your life and you sort of fit everything else in your life around work. Um whereas in Australia it's very much work is one aspect of life, and you sort of balance all these different aspects of life. Um, in fact, early on when I first moved to Australia, I remember that I had um had hunted a lawyer, um, pitched them a new role, they decided to sort of change their career path, uh, presented the lawyer to a client who had an opportunity, and the response from the client was that the uh the partner had actually gone on a surf trip for two weeks, and uh we won't we wouldn't be able to interview that lawyer until that partner had returned, which you would never have in London. I've sort of sat there. It sets the tone quite nicely, yeah. And now I go on surf trips and I quite enjoy having some time away. B D BD opportunity. Yeah, absolutely. Um, but to the point around that kind of transition from uh another agency back to SSQ, um, I think it's it's actually been a real benefit to have been on the ground in the market, uh, to understand those nuances of how to work in that market, uh, but also then bring in the SSQ culture. Um, so I think we all know that globally we're recognised as a you know predominant partner recruitment team and we operate in a very professional manner. Um, I think that that's really stood out in the Australian market. Uh, not to badmouth any agencies, but I think um there's no barrier to uh entry and recruitment. And in in Australia, again, you know, legal fees are the highest fees in the market for recruitment. So you often have uh a lot of people trying to do legal, probably not doing that in the most professional way, uh, whether that's for their clients or for the lawyers. And so bringing in that SSQ brand, that professionalism, uh, that knowledge base as well, um, in terms of relying on the global business, um people like yourselves and people who've who've worked in and opened new offices has really assisted me in terms of the the first year back at the business.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Yeah, and and I think that's probably something that's worth building on that because you know, despite all being on different time zones, we are talking to each other across the business uh on a pretty much daily basis because you know the global legal market now is is just that, it's global, right? The talent can move between jurisdictions. Obviously, different levels of seniority find it easier to move at different points in their career. But certainly I think being able to plug into what James is doing in New York, what you know, what we're doing on the West Coast, what the guys in London are doing, you know, Kimara, I think you probably talk to more people in the global network every day by virtue of the fact that that you know there there's such an appetite for for Aussie lawyers and you know, on top of everything you're doing in the domestic market. Um, and I think that's something that you know is definitely worth emphasising, is that you know, we can help not only have we relocated, but we can help people do this, uh, you know, across whether it be across states, uh whether it be across you know oceans, whatever. It's it's something that you know we have so much experience in and hopefully can soften having again even learn from personal experience, soften some of that those teething issues with the move when we we're advising people not just on here is the law firm, here is the role, here is the here is the candidate, but actually helping them to look, this is you know if you're advising law firms, this is what relocation relocation packages are looking like at the moment for people, or advising lawyers of you know, the number of lawyers I've dealt with who've sort of said, Oh, I'm moving to London or I'm moving to LA, where should I live? And obviously, I'm not I'm not I'm not yet on selling sunset, but to be able to kind of give that soft advice on top of the professional stuff, I think it's just extra value add that kind of deepens our relationships with these guys.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

I also think one of the points you raised there is you know, we started this conversation about why did we move. I think Kamara has a really interesting role in that he wears multiple hats but two hats. There is a you know, it in transacting partner moves at the top level in in Australia, and then in potentially, you know, helping Australian lawyers relocate to New York, to LA, to London. Those are two very different moves. It's not when you relocate, uh despite me saying mine was a primarily professional move. Mickey Mouse-driven and Mickey Mouse-driven, um, you know, my understanding at least, I don't know if you'd agree with this, is a lot of Australian, a lot of Antipodean lawyers move to a market knowing that this is a four-year move. And so actually, me saying, or you saying, you know, this is the firmware you're gonna make partner and earn the most money in 20 years' time is a completely irrelevant fact. And so I guess to a degree, going back to the point of being advisors rather than just imparting knowledge and saying this is what you should do, I imagine you are often trying to understand either is this a dual track, you are relocating somewhere, and you might stay, you might not, in which case these are the things you should consider. Is this a four-year move? You're gonna go, you're gonna have a great experience, you're gonna earn some money. I think that presumably that's a big part of your job.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, absolutely. I think um I think everyone at SSQ views their relationships with the lawyers as a long-term relationship. Uh, and so exactly that, understanding what is the outlook for that individual. Are you looking to come back to Australia? Are you going longer term?

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Boomerang, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Boomerang, as is as the term goes, uh, is incredibly important on the advisory point. But uh going back to what um Ben picked up on earlier, um, part of that is understanding the jurisdictions really well and knowing that when you're moving to the New York market, is a firm okay with a lawyer going there for two years and returning to Australia? Does that benefit that business, you know? Um and to the point you made, you know, I am on the phone pretty much with the entire global network on a weekly basis. Uh you know, Jane spends a lot of time on the phone with myself. Um I speak with the London team weekly, um, similar thing with the UAE. Uh, and it's a it's that integration point that allows us to be able to advise our lawyers in in the in the way that is uh I guess different from everybody else in the market.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Yeah, nice. Well, guys, thank you so much for joining me. Um next time we'll have to do it in Sydney because I think that sounds a lot more fun than uh than doing it in London. Uh, but thank you so much for joining both of you, and I hope I'll have you both on at some point in the near future. Thanks for having us, Ben. Beachide podcast. Thanks for yeah, yeah, exactly. Thanks, Ben.