26 Nov Why Marsden? Liam Richardson
Liam Richardson is Marsden’s Head of Financial Services, In-House, UK & Europe. He joined the company in October 2024.
Liam studied law at university and completed the LPC, but during that course realised that practising as a lawyer wasn’t the path for him. Conversations with on-campus legal recruiters—many of them former lawyers—opened his eyes to legal recruitment as a career where he could use what he had learned about the profession in a people-focused role, utilizing his interpersonal skills.
He joined a global legal recruiter’s graduate scheme, rotating through private practice, in-house, and interim recruitment before finally landing within the interim team. When the business decided to expand its business in Hong Kong in 2005, Liam volunteered – despite never having set foot there. “It all happened quickly. After a brief visit, I was sold and relocated a few months later.”
At the time, Hong Kong was in growth mode. Investment banks were hiring aggressively to match the scale of the US and UK, and much of Liam’s work centred on supporting financial services clients -primarily across global markets, asset management and capital markets legal roles. What he expected to be a three-to-five-year posting became thirteen years. He built the team, expanded into other Asian markets, and gained extensive experience working across cultures, time zones, and fast-moving regulatory environments.
In 2010, he joined another UK based search firm launching its first overseas office in Hong Kong. With a strong reputation in tax, compliance, and finance recruitment across Europe, the firm was well regarded by clients within the financial services sector for its ability to hire across multiple functions. Liam built a multi-disciplinary pan-Asian team, and ultimately went on to manage the Asian business, personally maintaining a focus on senior-level legal and compliance mandates for banks, private equity firms, and asset managers across the region.
By 2019, he was ready for a new chapter. “With two young children and ageing parents, returning to London made sense personally. Professionally, I was also looking for a new challenge. Hong Kong had become a small market after so many years, whereas London offered a much larger, deeper and sophisticated market and with it the opportunity to do more senior-level retained search work.” Back in the UK, he was tasked with further-developing the legal, risk and compliance side of the business, cross-selling with the already well-established tax search business.
The company was subsequently acquired by a private equity-backed, multi-disciplinary recruitment group. In 2022, Liam stepped into the role of CEO, leading a 110-person global business through another PE cycle in 2023. Driving transformation through restructuring, refining commercial models, integrating teams, and collaborating closely with group leadership has given Liam deep, hands-on experience of the shift from privately owned to PE-backed enterprise – and the complexities and opportunities that journey entails.
In 2024, Liam stepped down from his role and, reflecting on what he was most passionate about, sought out a client-facing senior-level search position with a global, specialist legal firm. He already knew several people at Marsden – including co-head of international in-house, Karen Glass. “I was drawn to Marsden because of the calibre and experience of the team, especially on the private practice side, which does high-level strategic work across the globe and provides invaluable market intelligence. It’s also a mature, flexible environment that encourages loyalty and enables you to do your best work.” Marsden’s employee-ownership model was also a huge positive, both in terms of fostering a genuine sense of shared purpose and creating long-term alignment between the firm and its people. For Liam, this combination of global reach, deep expertise, and collaborative culture made Marsden the ideal platform to deliver exceptional results for clients.
At Marsden, Liam’s focus is to deepen our financial services offering—across the sell-side, private markets and insurance space—and to grow our in-house practice in the UK, US, and eventually Asia. His interest in the FS sector runs deep: he enjoys understanding how institutions operate, how regulatory frameworks evolve, and how legal and compliance functions position themselves within complex organisations. “The financial services landscape is constantly evolving, creating a dynamic mix of challenges and opportunities for legal and compliance professionals. It’s a sector that is both intellectually stimulating and globally impactful – touching virtually every aspect of our daily lives.”
Driven and naturally competitive, Liam brings that same spirit to life beyond work. “I’ve always loved the focus of a challenge, whether it’s winning a pitch, earning a client’s trust, or finding the perfect role for someone. That drive doesn’t stop at the office. Road cycling, among other sports, is my outlet and I’ll always have one or two sportives in the diary each year. I always need something to aim for – it keeps me sharp.”