David Nicol is the co-head of Marsden’s US practice and leads our Los Angeles office.

Dave studied a law degree at the University of Glasgow, then trained and practised as an Employment lawyer at McGrigors (which merged with Pinsent Masons in 2012). “I really liked the dynamics of being a lawyer – speaking to clients every day, problem-solving, negotiation and business development. But I realized after a couple of years that I didn’t have a deep enough interest in the actual black letter law I was advising on.”

He spent some time with an ex-barrister turned career counsellor to help him think about his next steps. With his employment law background, a move into human resources or legal recruitment was the most logical direction.  This coincided with his partner taking a year off to travel, and he decided to join her. “Pinsents kindly kept my role open for me for a year to allow me to go, which gave me the flexibility to enjoy my travels, knowing that I always had a job to come back to.”

By the end of 2014 Dave was in Australia. “I was introduced to Jonathan Walmsley at Marsden in Sydney and decided to stay and give being a legal recruiter a go. Marsden was well-established, had a great team, and a really good reputation internationally. It was also larger and more sophisticated than others in the market, but clearly had plenty of room to grow.”

Dave found that there were synergies between the Scottish and Australian legal markets in terms of size and that both often acted as ‘feeder’ markets for London, and it was therefore fairly easy to get up to speed with the domestic Australian market very quickly. He quickly gained experience placing lawyers in all types of firm, from boutique to top-tier. He began to develop a reputation for his work in the international markets, working alongside Jonathan Walmsley to move associates between Australian and London and the USA. This included managing large recruitment campaigns for several Magic Circle firms in the Australian market.

So why are Australian lawyers so attractive to US firms? “There’s a number of reasons – it’s a great career path for them. Visas are readily available; firms facilitate sitting the New York or California bar exam, which is a pre-requisite. Australia has some great law schools – for example the University of Melbourne is consistently ranked in the top 10 law schools globally. Australia produces bright lawyers who work hard and have a track record of doing really well in the US, particularly in transactional areas.

“A stint in the US provides Australian lawyers with valuable complex deal experience. And of course they can earn Cravath-scale salaries in the US for the same type of work they are doing in Australia. We’ve found that lawyers used to commit to doing two years in the US and it’s now become three to five years or they decide to stay indefinitely. For those who return to Australia, they can frequently utilize the client and referral relationships they have developed to help them progress towards partnership.”

As a former lawyer, Dave really understands the needs and motivations of his candidates and is able to apply this in his work as a recruiter. “I enjoy a lot more control over my working day and have gained the flexibility and self-sufficiency I never got but always craved as a lawyer. Whilst I like being part of a team, I enjoy the fact that there is a high degree of accountability in our role. Ultimately whether you are successful or not is largely dictated by you. In my free time I have always been attracted to solo sports where this is also the case. I like the pressure that accompanies you being largely responsible for the outcome.”

Dave had thought about moving to the US for a while. His work had become 95% US-related, Marsden having developed the leading practice for moving Australian lawyers to US firms. “I was working really hard and doing lots of early starts, and I thought it would make more sense for me to be on the ground on the West Coast. Once things started to get back to normal following the pandemic, I agreed with Jonathan Marsden and Jonathan Walmsley that 2022 was the time to do it.”

Marsden has deep roots in the US, having advised elite US law firms on several headline projects including office openings/build-outs, mergers and high-profile team moves. With established relationships in both the US and Canada, key members of our US team have been active in US legal recruitment for over 20 years. Despite the challenging market conditions in the US at the moment, the team is well-positioned given the many long-term client relationships, and it has been a busy start.

Given that Dave already knew the US legal market well, the transition to Los Angeles was smooth. “Clients have been incredibly receptive, warm and supportive and they really appreciate the Marsden approach and style, which we are frequently told is different to other recruiters in the market. The move was made much easier by the fact that our client relationships are already well-established here and I have been recruiting in the US market for the past eight years. So professionally, the move was easy – on the personal front it was much more challenging to move countries with my wife and two young children, but Marsden has been incredibly supportive.”