Krista Bowie
Senior Associate
Singapore
Krista.Bowie@aar.com.au
Senior Associate Krista Bowie has had an impressive range of experiences since joining Allens Arthur Robinson in January 2002.
In her time at the firm, Krista has worked in two different Australian offices (Brisbane and Melbourne) and two different Asian offices (Bangkok and Singapore).
Krista joined Allens Arthur Robinson as a first-year lawyer in 2002 after completing a two-year associateship with Family Court appellate judge Justice Travis Lindenmayer, while also finishing her arts/law degree at the Queensland University of Technology.
She spent a year working for the Construction group and then the Corporate & Commercial group in Brisbane before an opportunity to work in Allens' Bangkok office arose. Krista took the position for a variety of reasons, including that she had studied many Asian-focused subjects at university.
It also gave her an opportunity to take on more responsibility than what she had in Brisbane.
'In my experience, the opportunity to step up, be responsible for your files and get involved in depth on particular transactions at a junior level was much greater in our offshore offices than in Australia. This gives you more confidence to manage your own files and make your own calls as a result,' she said.
There was also the opportunity to work in different jurisdictions and areas of law that are still developing.
'Practising law in some parts of Asia is a little more frontier than Australia.'
Then there were the travel opportunities. Krista said she spent only two successive weekends at home during her time in Bangkok because of the affordability of travel and the close proximity of ideal holiday spots.
Allens' Bangkok office is a joint venture with local firm Siam Premier. At the time, Krista was one of about five Australian lawyers working alongside about 80 Thai lawyers, who helped translate Thai legislation. The firm also paid for Krista to have Thai language lessons twice a week.
Krista then moved to the Melbourne office in June 2005, where she stayed until January 2007.
She then took the opportunity to return to Asia, this time in Singapore. Most of her work is concentrated in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. She said that one of the differences in being a senior associate in our Singapore office, as opposed to one of the Australian offices, was that there were more business development opportunities and an increased level of client interaction offshore.
'You are usually working directly with a partner, who drums up the business, and then it is up to you to get the job done while the partner goes back out into the market to drum up more business.'
The Singapore office is expanding so quickly that it is in the process of moving to larger quarters. This expansion is indicative of the growth of both Allens' influence in Asia and the growth of our clients' business interests in the region.
'If you want the opportunity to see Asia and work for an employer that's flexible in accommodating such an opportunity, then Allens would be a fantastic fit for you,' she said.
