Asia Students & Graduates

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Why Choose Us

If you are interested in practicing law in Asia, we understand that deciding where to begin your legal career can be overwhelming. Our Tokyo-tracked associate program allows for law school J.D. graduates to begin their careers in one of our U.S. offices and relocate to the Tokyo office one to two years later. Our Asia offices also provide LL.M. graduates an exciting place to launch the next phase of their careers and work on the most sophisticated cross-border transactions in the market. Depending on practice group needs, we may also have opportunities for associates with requisite language skills to begin their careers in one of our U.S. offices and transfer to one of our Asia offices to pursue the next phase of their legal career. 
Tokyo

Tokyo Office Opportunities

The Ropes & Gray Tokyo office is seeking entry-level associates to join its growing and vibrant practice. If you are a current law student pursuing a J.D., are fluent in Japanese and are interested in pursuing a legal career in Japan focused on corporate transactional work (mergers and acquisitions, private equity, leveraged finance), we encourage you to apply for our Tokyo-tracked associate program. You would have the unique opportunity to split your summer associate position between a U.S. office and the Tokyo office. Upon graduation, you would start your career in a U.S. office (approximately 1-2 years, depending on applicable U.S. visa restrictions), followed by relocation to the Tokyo office. Interested applicants should apply to the firm’s summer associate program and indicate interest in the split Tokyo/U.S. summer associate opportunity.
Candidate Self Apply
I chose to start my career at Ropes & Gray because of the opportunities I would have to work on sophisticated transactions with the smartest and most dedicated professionals in the market. The firm has established a supportive and collaborative culture that enables junior lawyers to take on interesting and challenging work and is highly committed to foster an inclusive work environment and community of professionals.”
Keisuke Takacho, Associate – Tokyo

LL.M. Opportunities

Our Asia offices frequently hire recent LL.M. graduates who have already graduated from law school in their home country and are interested in returning to Asia after taking the U.S. bar. LL.M. graduates are typically considered for legal consultant or international associate positions in the Shanghai office or legal manager positions in the Hong Kong office, and those who are successful are promoted to partnership track associates (the length of time would depend on prior work experience). Our Tokyo office is also interested in hiring LL.M. candidates who have a law degree from Japan (and preferably admitted to the Japan bar) for corporate associate positions in the Tokyo office (the type of position would depend on the candidate’s prior work experience). Typically, LL.M. candidates are hired directly into one of our Asia offices; however, our U.S. offices also host Japanese lawyers who have graduated from LL.M. programs and are interested in pursuing an internship at a U.S. law firm to gain experience and training in U.S. law before returning to Japan to practice law. 

Candidate Self Apply
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