With deal flows slowing to a trickle, firms are keener than ever to recruit trainees willing to do a spell abroad. Charlotte Edmond reports

Secondments are the new black. With the buzzing London deals market a fading memory, and law firms increasingly deploying manpower to more active markets, overseas placements are more a la mode than ever. But how do you secure the placement you want? And more to the point, what can you do to avoid the one you don't want?

In the not-too-distant past, taking up a post in-house or overseas was something those keen to avoid career suicide thought long and hard about. However, given the downturn in workload across the UK, placements outside the home territories are coming back on to the agenda.

With a paucity of work across sectors – especially in real estate – firms' overseas offices have become crucial to their continuing success. Not only have they helped in maintaining the all-important fees inflow, but they have enabled firms to shunt their workforce around the globe, rather than make redundancies.

Gone is the old school view that secondments were a deviation from your career path, with some of the larger firms, such as Allen & Overy, now going as far as including a "willingness to move" category as part of their associate appraisal process. For many firms, placements abroad are almost an unwritten requirement as they try to promote their ability to deliver consistency across jurisdictions to major clients.

As Herbert Smith's secondment partner Chris Parsons puts it, "The whole emphasis of secondments has changed in the last few years. Now it's something that is actively encouraged – a number of our recent partner promotions have taken place in our international offices."

He adds: "We are trying to build an international business culture and we want to encourage people to seriously consider a stint overseas, or a spell with a client, as part of their career plan."

From the point of view of many firms, there is no longer a 'bad time' in a lawyer's career to dip out of the London deals market. Solicitors from two years' post-qualification experience (PQE) right up to partner level are now signing up for secondments. And it is also common for trainees to do a seat abroad.

Realistically, however, it gets more difficult to pack your bags and up sticks the older you become. Things such as mortgages, spouses and kids begin to get in the way. As a result, most lawyers opt to do a secondment at an early stage in their careers.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate associate George Swan, who has been seconded to his firm's Hong Kong office and to Barclays, believes that a spell in a different environment can be beneficial on several levels. "There are lots of opportunities out there and it's good to gain first-hand commercial experience outside of one's own firm," he says.

"It's a great chance for professional development, understanding the pressures within a client organisation and seeing how the in-house team operates; not to mention the networking opportunities."

Placements naturally follow work, so while you may fancy a couple of years in New York or Paris, it's likely that your boss will be keener for you to take a turn in one of the firm's emerging markets offices. Having said that, there may well be secondment opportunities in locations afflicted by the downturn as organisations, particularly banks, look to temporarily fill positions lost to redundancies – even if just for the duration of a deal.

Although Moscow and Bahrain may not have the cachet of Milan or Paris, they are not without allure. With the growing attention paid to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies by international firms, there is a lot of investment taking place in such locations, making for a dynamic working environment. And with these offices generally of a much smaller size than firms' European or US headquarters, there tends to be more opportunities to get to know clients and take a more active role in deals.

The large numbers of postings to Russia and the Middle East has also meant these countries have developed sizeable ex-pat social scenes, which continue to expand rapidly. The bigger offices of many firms have even started clubs of their own. Practice areas play a major part when it comes to selecting a country to work in, with finance specialists in particular demand in Russia, and the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi typically attracting corporate experts. Opportunities to take employment or intellectual property skills abroad are far more limited.

When it comes to taking the big leap and leaving the country, most firms are keen to make the passage as easy as possible, with teams of people charged with doing everything from finding a flat to setting up a new bank account. Simmons & Simmons' London financial markets associate Richard Enskat, who is on secondment in Moscow, recommends that secondees take all the help they can get: "When it comes to the social scene, it's a definite advantage if you know some of the local language, although business-related activities are mostly done in English. It can be daunting when you move to a completely new city, so take up offers of help from your firm. Simmons was very helpful and had everything lined up for me."

If the idea of leaving the comforts of home sends a chill down your spine, don't worry: placements are not compulsory. Herbert Smith's Parsons explains: "If you say no to a placement, that's the end of it. We can help find an opportunity that's more suited to you, or just forget about it altogether. It's not in anyone's interests to have unhappy lawyers at the firm."