Dentons‘ Hong Kong office has hired a five-strong team from Bird & Bird to expand its litigation practice. The team joining Dentons is led by partner Richard Keady, who headed Birth & Bird’s international dispute resolution group in Asia Pacific, and consists of partner Robert Rhoda and three associates. Keady has spent the past 18 […]
The University of Law (ULaw) has pledged to open its first international campus, in Hong Kong, by spring 2019. The new campus will receive its first student intake the following September and will initially offer a portfolio of postgraduate courses. A spokesperson for the institution said that courses will be taught in English; but would not […]
Paul Hastings’ Hong Kong partner and office chair Steve Winegar has moved in-house, taking up a new role as international general counsel at Chinese insurance giant Ping An. The move will see Winegar returning to an in-house position in the financial sector. He joined Paul Hastings as a corporate partner in 2010 from Goldman Sachs, […]
The integration of newly-merged Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has hit a bumpy road in the Far East as legacy Bryan Cave’s Hong Kong team have split off to establish their own firm, The Lawyer can reveal.
This is the latest in a spate of partner moves from international to Chinese firms.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is closing down its operation in Seoul after six years, making it the first global law firm to pull out of South Korea. South Korea opened up its legal market to international firms in 2012, resulting in an influx of international law firms setting up shop. The firm relocated its Korea […]
Slaughter and May corporate partner David Watkins has returned to London after a seven-year stint in Hong Kong, having overseen a period of growth for its Asian offering, with six new partners and practice expansion into North Asia. Watkins, who has been a partner at Slaughter and May since 2005, relocated to Hong Kong in […]
Ashurst has expanded its Ashurst Advance team with the opening of a global delivery centre (GDC) in Brisbane, its second after the launch of its Glasgow office in 2013. The GDC will extend the firm’s legal analyst model on home turf within the APAC region, where Ashurst has five Australian offices following its merger with Blake […]
A new bilingual legal tech platform has been launched in China that could save lawyers “lost in translation” and boost foreign investment going into and out of the country. Supported by Beijing officials and a pool of international law firms, beta trials are underway to test docQbot, a cloud-based contract bot said to draft quality […]
Clifford Chance’s Perth managing partner has left the firm for Norton Rose Fulbright in the latest high-profile exit from the magic circle firm’s Australian office. Paul Lingard, a partner in Clifford Chance’s mining group, is moving over to Norton Rose Fulbright, alongside Herbert Smith Freehills executive counsel Miriam D’Souza. She too is joining Norton Rose’s corporate […]
Months after agreeing a new tie-up in Hong Kong, CMS has increased lawyer headcount in the region after snaring an eight-lawyer team from RPC. Partners Andrew Horton and Steven Wise are leading the move to CMS, which earlier this year struck up a new association with Hong Kong firm Shirley Lau & Co increasing its capacity to offer […]
Cooley is beefing up its Beijing office with newly-appointed partner Henry Yin from Kirkland & Ellis. Yin was previously a Hong Kong partner at Kirkland & Ellis, which he joined in 2014, and started his career at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom’s New York office in 2009. He deals with corporate matters such as […]
Italian heavyweight Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners is launching an office in Shanghai in its first international expansion for four years. The Shanghai office is Gianni Origoni’s eleventh office globally, and its second in Asia. It launched in Hong Kong in 2014 and signed a formal alliance agreement with Chinese firm Han Kun Law […]
Clyde & Co‘s star magic circle hire in China, Beijing managing partner Patrick Zheng, has left after four years to join independent firm Llinks Law. Zheng will be a partner in Llinks’ cross-border dispute resolution practice. In his new firm, Zhang will join co-founder Charles Qin, as well as partner Peiming Yang, in leading the firm’s […]
Addleshaw Goddard has brought in veteran Asia head Bob Charlton in from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) to head up its Asia Pacific presence. Charlton will join Addleshaws after heading up BCLP’s Asia presence since 2014. Bryan Cave merged with Berwin Leighton Paisner in February this year to form BCLP. This new appointment will mean […]
Shanda Group general counsel Li Han has exited the company after six years to join O’Melveny in Hong Kong. Han, who led the legal team at the global investment firm, is returning to private practice as a corporate partner. Prior to joining Shanda, she was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell for over three […]
Ashurst has boosted its Asian banking and finance practice with the hires of Fangda Partners partner Eric Tan and Allen & Overy (A&O) counsel Daniel Lau.
Tan specialises in acquisition finance, cross border lending, structured finance and other banking matters.
Cooley has launched a second Chinese office in Beijing, hiring Ropes & Gray counsel Xun Zeng as a partner.
Zeng was at his former firm for over three years, first as an associate in the private investment funds group and then as a counsel in the same practice based in Hong Kong.
Osborne Clarke’s best friend firm in India has opened its second office in the country to tap into the region’s burgeoning technology markets.
Linklaters has once again claimed the title as the international firm seen to have the most robust India practice, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has shot up to second place, research reveals.
The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has contacted its members saying the opening of the country’s legal services market to foreign firms is inevitable and imminent.
Kennedys has launched its first India desk, becoming the latest firm to increase its focus in the country ahead of a possible market liberalisation.
India has taken one step forward and two steps back in its move to liberalise its legal market following an unexpected move by the Bar Council of India (BCI) this month.
While the dramatic split of its largest law firm has dominated the headlines, India is poised for growth and firms say they are in shape to take advantage.
China’s litigation climate is now more attractive to clients due to greater independence and transparency. It’s creating a raft of opportunities for overseas law firms
Since 2013, the Top 30 firms in China has taken giant strides forward, with average revenue and headcounts soaring.
In a highly competitive and low-growth market, firms are increasingly turning to technology and innovation to stay ahead of competition while boosting efficiency and profitability. Asia-based firms are no exception. Those in Australia and Singapore, where growth has been harder to achieve, are leading the charge. Over the past few years, ‘legal hackathon’ and ‘design […]
A&O, Dentons, Norton Rose – energetic leadership and bold ambition characterise the law firms that have become global players in recent years
Pinsent Masons is taking a different approach to China from most of its rivals, as data in The Lawyer’s most recent Global 200 report confirms.
Relationships are important in China’s business culture, but after almost 20 years of flirting, Clifford Chance still can’t find an alliance partner.
By Shaimerden Chikanayev The importance of the so-called natural monopolies in Kazakhstan can be seen in the fact that some of Kazakhstan’s largest and most powerful corporate empires, such as the KEGOC (national transmission grid operator) and KTZ (national railway company), are officially subject to natural monopoly regulation. The obvious lack of transparency in the tariff-setting […]
By Joel Benjamin, Adlet Yerkinbayev, Kuanysh Shekerbekov The briefing discusses below the changes to (i) the Securities Market Law, effective 21 October 2018, and (ii) the NBK Regulation, effective 8 October 2018, affecting certain matters related to the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC). The note is intended to be a helpful guide – it is therefore not comprehensive […]
In our report, ‘The Ultimate Disruptor: How Blockchain is Transforming Financial Services’ we explored how blockchain is being utilised in banking and finance as well as other more surprising industries. While only 20% of respondents in our research felt that blockchain would benefit advertising, the technology is already being seen to create innovation in this […]
By Jocelyn S Paulley In an ever more digital and data-driven world, it will become increasingly important for General Counsel to be able to navigate the web of digital protectionist laws (laws that prevent the overseas collaboration that is needed for technology to properly develop), in much the same way that they have needed to know […]
By David E Brennan The widely reported and still ongoing China-US trade war is still very potent as the ‘tit for tat’ nature sees almost weekly retaliations by each country to respective trade tariffs on goods and services. Interestingly, our report on global protectionism has found that both are poles apart where levying […]
Since April 23, 2018, the provisions of the Federal Law No. 229-ФЗ “On Enforcement Proceedings” dated October 2, 2007, regulate the procedure for enforcement of the requirement contained in the executive document to remove information distributed on the Internet that defames the honor, dignity or damages business reputation of a citizen or damages business reputation […]
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) was launched on the 5 July 2018. It is a financial hub located in Astana, Kazakhstan. The aims of AIFC are to attract investment and bring in clients from Asia, Europe and the Middle East. AIFC offers a favourable environment to appeal to Western markets. Preferential tax regime, common […]
In the wake of #MeToo and similar social media movements, sports organisations are particularly exposed. Beyond the reputational damage that an organisation can suffer from, should one of its members be found to have engaged in sexual misconduct, there is a risk of legal liability for failing to create an environment that is safe for […]
On 26 October 2018, China approved changes to litigation procedures for patents and other intellectual property (IP) cases, which fundamentally changes how the appeal process will work for certain technical IP disputes. The decision implements a new regime that will permit the Supreme People’s Court to hear appeals from first instance civil cases in relation to […]
Uzbekistan has joined the Paris agreement on climate change. The signing ceremony took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 19 April 2017. On 27 September 2018, the Senate Oliy Majlis approved the law on ratification of the Paris agreement (Paris, 12 December 2015). The Paris agreement is a document adopted within […]
By Bernardine Adkins The standard weaponry of so-called trade wars are tariffs and quotas – observe the most recent tensions between the US and China where both have been spurring each other on in increasing tariffs on aluminium, steel, and aircraft parts. Our Protectionism 2.0 report considers something different in the trade landscape – the threat […]
By Aidan Grant The inheritance tax nil rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since April 2009 and the Government appears to have no plans to increase this threshold in the near future. When the increase in house prices in London and the South East is compared over this time period it is small wonder that […]
