Following in the footsteps of Ashurst last year, Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has hired two lawyers to kickstart its operations in South Korea. WFW has recruited K&L Gates partner Eugene Chang, as well as Herbert Smith Freehills associate Philip Kim, who joins as a partner. Kim arrived at WFW in November in anticipation of […]
Ashurst has established a joint venture with Korean firm, HwaHyun. The deal means that Ashurst will be able to practise Korean law. HwaHyun comprises 17 partners, with total lawyer numbers reaching over 30. Ashurst’s global CEO Paul Jenkins said: “This is the first JV between a Korean firm and an international firm in South Korea, […]
Mayer Brown has established a formal joint law venture (JLV) with Singapore firm PK Wong & Nair. The JLV will be known as Mayer Brown PK Wong & Nair and will offer clients services on international and Singapore law. Mayer Brown first set up in Singapore in 2011 and has since grown to 25 lawyers, […]
Baker Botts will open in Singapore later this year, The Lawyer understands, marking a dramatic turnaround in its Asia Pacific strategy after shutting its Hong Kong office at the end of 2021. The firm has hired a three-partner projects and infrastructure-focused team from Ashurst, including Richard Guit, Michael Harrison and Daniel Reinbott. The trio have […]
US firm Cooley will operate as a single entity in Hong Kong having completed the required three-year association period with local firm CYL & Partners. The combined entity will operate as Cooley HK and will be led by former Skadden corporate partner Will Cai. Cooley said the move was completed on 30 June and had […]
Magic circle firm Linklaters is to put financial sponsors at the heart of its Asia-Pacific operation after a strategy refresh led by regional managing partner William Liu. As part of the strategy, Linklaters is aiming to increase revenue by 10 per cent each year as well as making commitments to flesh out what the firm […]
Mishcon de Reya has launched an international seat for its trainee lawyers as the firm bids to make best use of its fledging Asia-Pacific presence. The international seat was set up earlier this year with the trainee, Laura Price, beginning in Singapore on 21 March for a six-month period. At present, the seat is only […]
DWF has struck an alliance with a Hong Kong firm, over a year after agreeing a similar deal with Singapore-based Eldan Law. In Hong Kong, DWF has reached an exclusive affiliation agreement with Hauzen. Hauzen has five partners and one of counsel, specialising in financial regulation, contentious insurance, complex commercial matters and arbitration. The firm’s […]
Addleshaw Goddard is to close its office in Hong Kong later this year, The Lawyer has learned. Staff in its Hong Kong office are understood to have been told the news on Monday, with London staff being informed today. The closure will be from September this year upon the expiry of its office lease. Addleshaws has had […]
Herbert Smith Freehills’ association firm has hired a new corporate partner in Saudi Arabia, while it has also added further heft over in Asia with the appointment of a new head of the practice. The firm has recruited Joza Al-Rasheed in Riyadh, who joins the firm having worked in-house for a five-month stint at chemical […]
Dentons has appointed its first global head of ESG to drive its efforts in this area. Aragon St-Charles has taken the post and will be based in Tokyo. He joined at the start of this month and will report to the firm’s CEO Elliott Portnoy and global chairman Joe Andrew. St-Charles joins from Hogan Lovells […]
A partner from Jones Day’s Singapore office is relocating to London where he will join Shearman & Sterling. Matthew Skinner is moving back to London after nearly two decades in the Asia-Pacific region. He started out at Clyde & Co in London in the early 1990s, also working at legacy Herbert Smith in the City […]
China’s legal market is maturing as the economy falters. 2023 will provide the ultimate litmus test.
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.
Gowling WLG has extended its “best friend” relationship with Indian law firm Naik Naik & Company from its UK LLP to the firm’s Canada arm as post-merger integration continues.
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.
A booming domestic market helped China’s leading law firms post positive financial results even as the pandemic curtailed overseas work
The China Top 30 firms have seen rapidly rising revenues, which has allowed them to ride out the effects of the Covid-19 crisis relatively unscathed
China dominates at a time of political and economic uncertainty, with Covid-19 set to have a profound effect moving forward
Why tensions between the US and China are worse news to China’s elite firms than the current pandemic
New security laws and a US-China trade war mean Western players will have to change the way their do business to compete with the PRC heavyweights
Wuhan was relatively unknown on the global stage until it became the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak this year. However, its legal services market has been growing, with eight of The Lawyer’s China Top 30 based in the city. Dentons is just one of the firms currently on lockdown. Dentons’ Wuhan managing partner Lv Chenkui told […]
Overseas investors are looking to China for shareholding opportunities in foreign-invested securities companies and, as a result, are boosting the country’s presence in the market
At the Pharmaceutical Forum of the EAEU and CIS countries held in Moscow in late February 2018, the Director of the Department of Technical Regulation and Accreditation of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEС) said that the full-scale work on registration of medicines using the unified information system of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will start […]
The Asia Pacific 100 2017 report consists of 80 pages of exclusive data and analysis on the region’s 100 largest firms. It is the most comprehensive guide to the top legal advisers in the region’s key markets. It provides useful information for international firms that are looking to expand into the region or seeking to […]
Despite China’s economic growth having reached its slowest in 25 years last year, the country’s leading law firms continued their strong pace of revenue growth. The China Elite 2016 report singles out the top 30 firms by annual turnover and provides a year-on-year comparison on their results. This year, it also takes a special look at […]