Melissa Pereira
University of Bombay, B.Com. (First Class Honors)
Diploma in Marketing - Indian Marketing Association
Asia Search Partners (2007-Present)
Melissa has focused on legal recruitment for more than 20 years. She has worked for UK and US based specialist legal search firms, before co-founding Asia Search Partners in 2007. She works with US and UK based law firms and financial institutions including investment banks, private equity funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds, asset management and insurance companies. She has successfully placed partners, teams, counsel, associates as well as in-house counsel across Asia including Hong Kong, China, India, Korea and Singapore as well as in the US. She earned her Bachelor of Commerce degree with First Class Honours at the University of Bombay. She has a Diploma in Marketing Management from the Indian Marketing Association (IMA) and was involved in IMA's activities within Mumbai.
Matthew Bersani
Princeton University, AB (cum laude)
Columbia Law School, JD
Shearman & Sterling Partner (1997-2020)
Matthew brings an unparalleled firm-side understanding of how to build a successful team of collaborative and client-focused partners. Matthew played a senior management role for decades at Shearman & Sterling. He was elected to the firm's global board of directors, sat on the firm's global executive group, and most recently was head of the firm's global corporate finance team, the firm's largest practice group. In these capacities, he established many of the firm's strategies and lateral partner hiring initiatives.
In addition to his law firm management experience, Matthew was a trusted advisor to many of Asia's leading companies and global financial institutions. He led the IPOs for PetroChina, ChinaMobile, Hutchison entities and the largest ever IPO out of Thailand. He regularly represented Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citibank on complex securities offerings. Throughout his career, he was consistently cited as “top tier” or “highly recommended” in various guides to the world’s leading lawyers.
Molly Cliff
Harvard College, AB (magna cum laude)
Harvard Law School, JD (cum laude)
Cravath, Associate
GE, Asia General Counsel
Asia Search Partners (2007-Present)
As the founding partner of a major international legal recruitment firm, Molly has more than 15 years of legal recruitment experience. She has recruited teams and individuals for law firms and financial institutions and has been responsible for a number of firsts (first lateral search for a leading Magic Circle firm, first hire of a female Japanese-qualified lawyer for a leading financial institution, first general counsel for a leading private equity fund). She has helped clients acquire entire new practice areas and open new offices. She has also worked successfully with candidates seeking to explore the lateral law firm market as well as make the transition from private practice to in-house and, in some cases, from in-house back to private practice. She has successfully completed searches with specific diversity requirements and has been a trusted advisor to senior law firm management on recruitment issues.
Erle Benedict Pereira
University of Bombay, B.Com (First Class Honors)
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, U.K.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Allen & Overy (Regional Finance Manager, Asia)
Simmons & Simmons (CFO, Asia Pacific)
Asia Search Partners (2011 – Present)
Erle is an UK qualified accountant and has held senior level finance positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Allen & Overy and Simmons & Simmons. Erle turned to legal sector recruitment in 2011 and has rapidly built up a strong associate and partner practice. In addition, he is actively involved in our in-house practice recruiting and has worked for clients such as Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Baring Private Equity.