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  • March 19, 2014 |

    BLP eyes Indonesia move as part of South East Asian growth plan

    Berwin Leighton Paisner is understood to be considering a tie up with a local firm in Indonesia as part of its wider plan to tap emerging markets via its new BLP Asia network. The firm, which recently formed an alliance with Legal Network Consultants (LNC) in Myanmar, is keen to boost the amount of work coming from existing clients whilst also acquiring new mandates in fast-growing countries where interest from multinationals is mounting.

    1 minute read

  • March 18, 2014 |

    Transfer Window Asia: recent moves including Reed Smith, HSF and Clifford Chance

    Reed Smith Richards Butler in Hong Kong has brought on board shipping counsel Terry Floyd from Ince & Co. He focuses predominantly on admiralty and casualty work, and is the lastest addition to the Asia-wide shipping group, which has grown in the past two years in response to increased activity in the market.

    1 minute read

  • March 13, 2014 |

    KWM-SJB tie-up gets cautious thumbs up as other merger moves fail to convince

    SJ Berwin's merger with King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has been met with guarded optimism by law firm partners, who are more cynical about other recent high-profile tie-ups. Legal Week's latest Big Question survey has found that nearly 50% of partners believe legacy SJ Berwin's merger with Asia-Pacific giant KWM, which went live last November, looks like a good deal, while a further 6% believe the tie-up will be game-changing. However, 44% of respondents have a 'negative' or 'very negative' view of the union. Nearly half (46%) of partners see the KWM combination as being on a par with other sizeable international mergers in recent years, namely Norton Rose's tie-up with Texas firm Fulbright & Jaworski, which went live last June, US firm Hogan & Hartson's merger with City firm Lovells in 2010 and the three-way union between SNR Denton, Salans and Canada's Fraser Milner Casgrain last March forming Dentons.

    1 minute read

  • March 13, 2014 |

    Trailblazers – what next for post-merger King & Wood Mallesons?

    July 2013. In a meeting room in King & Wood Mallesons' Hong Kong office, a group of journalists wait for an announcement about the firm's pending merger with UK outfit SJ Berwin. The press invitation had been sent out a day before voting closed – a sign the firms were confident about winning partner approval for the union. Cheering and clapping from a room next door confirms the tie-up will go ahead; office staff having just been informed. At the press conference, management finally announces the details, with all of the partners visibly excited – not to mention relieved – after months of deliberation. Today, four months after the merger went live on 1 November 2013, the new entity – not so catchily named King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) SJ Berwin in the UK and Europe for the time being and KWM elsewhere – is very much a reality. SJ Berwin lawyers have moved into the China/Australian firm's offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, London-based KWM teams have switched to legacy SJ Berwin's City headquarters, global practice coordinators have been appointed in nine core areas and management bodies with representatives from China, London and Australia have already started meeting regularly.

    1 minute read

  • March 13, 2014 |

    BLP joins rivals in fast-growing Myanmar through local partnership

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has expanded into Myanmar through a tie-up with local outfit Legal Network Consultants (LNC). The Yangon-based firm is now a member of BLP's Asia network, which has been created so that the firm can tap a steady flow of deals coming out of the country. To date BLP has been servicing the market out of Singapore, with a practice led by the firm's Singapore head and project finance partner Alistair Duffield, corporate partner Ken Cheung and energy and projects partner Nomita Nair.

    1 minute read

  • March 10, 2014 |

    BLP builds Asia finance team with Norton Rose hire in Hong Kong

    Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has boosted its asset finance capability in Hong Kong with the hire of Beijing-based partner Nigel Ward from Norton Rose Fulbright. Ward, who joins this month, will be the fifth partner to join BLP in Hong Kong since it opened in the city in 2011, but the first shipping and aviation finance specialist.

    1 minute read

  • March 6, 2014 |

    Top global and UK M&A deals – January-February 2014

    A round-up of the top M&A transactions of the year so far, featuring mandates for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Latham & Watkins and Norton Rose Fulbright.

    1 minute read

  • March 6, 2014 |

    The future of law firms' lucrative litigation mandates

    Litigators are seeing even once resilient big-ticket fees come under pressure from the boardroom as companies look for ways to slash their legal bills...

    1 minute read

  • March 3, 2014 |

    Firms face tough times in Singapore as gov't sets strict QFLP growth targets

    Singapore has long been an important market for international law firms, both as a hub for South East Asian and Indian work and in its own commercial right. But last week's news that only four of the six international firms granted qualifying foreign law practice (QFLP) licences in 2008 have secured full five-year renewals demonstrates the challenges firms still face in the region.

    1 minute read

  • February 27, 2014 |

    HSF misses out on Singapore local licence, W&C gets conditional permit

    Herbert Smith Freehills will not practice local law in Singapore from October this year after not renewing its Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence. The UK firm was one of six outfits originally permitted to practice local law in 2008 and understood to have been in discussions with the authorities about renewing its licence along with the other firms.

    1 minute read