working abroad as a lawyer

Yes, it is perfectly possible.

If you are in a relevant practice area (corporate, finance or international arbitration) it is actually surprisingly easy. Banking/finance is a good area if you have decent experience advising on facility documents. There is demand for English qualified banking/finance lawyers in the overseas offices of international firms.

If you are with a purely national firm, you would need to move to a different firm to work overseas. You would realistically need to join the overseas office of an international firm, rather than a local firm. Local firms generally only hire local lawyers.

I used to work in a Magic Circle firm, and found that they were always looking for junior and mid level associates to spend a couple years in places like Dubai and Singapore. They did hire people from national firms. Smaller national firms like Osborne Clarke and Pinsent Masons are also starting to open offices overseas.

Your first port of call should be to speak to a legal recruitment consultant at an agency which has offices in places like Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. A UK consultant should be able to tell you very quickly what is available and pass you onto an overseas colleague if appropriate. If you register with them they'll give you a shout when an appropriate role comes up. When I've spoken to consultants at the larger agencies for a UK job in the past they've often asked if I might be interested in considering a job overseas.

I spent a couple of years in Asia as a junior associate and would recommend it, feel free to shoot any questions.