The run up to the Easter break has been a challenging time for many transactional associates with several international firms making layoffs across a variety of practice areas. Whilst the majority of these are in capital market teams there have also been redundancies across banking, real estate and funds practices.
Orrick became the second U.S. law firm to announce that it is consolidating its operations to Beijing with the closure of their Shanghai and Taipei offices. In early March, Perkins Coie announced that it would close its Shanghai office while retaining its Beijing office and IP agency business. Weil closed operations in Beijing late last year and is now considering also shutting its longstanding office in Shanghai with a view to consolidating its Asia operations in Hong Kong.
Despite these less than positive updates we are continuing to see firms investing in the future. Appleby has continued its hiring spree with two new partners in Hong Kong in their banking and litigation teams and there have been partner hires in corporate teams in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Charles Russell Speechlys, which only opened in Singapore last July, launches their arbitration practice with the hire of Peter Brabant from King & Spalding.
There continue to be opportunities for strong contentious lawyers across both international and US firms with roles opening up for FCPA/Investigations lawyers in addition to commercial litigation and insolvency associates.
About the author
Camilla is the Founder and Managing Director of Worthington Legal. She has over 18 years of legal experience, initially as a lawyer in a top city law firm in London before moving to Hong Kong in 2014. Camilla regularly presents at partner strategy meetings, advises on market trends and hiring strategies and mentors lawyers at all career stages, both professionally and with the Women in Law Mentoring Programme.
