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Asia Pacific Legal Market Summary January 2017

CHINA

Happy Chinese New Year! Outbound business remains to be the focus for many international and domestic law firms in 2017, and we see more firms starting to play a material role in outbound transactions. Firms are watching out for how the US presidential election and the changes in China’s foreign exchange policy will impact the market. We have heard from partners that they still foresee large growth potential in the outbound sector in the long-term, and lawyers with a combination of international practice experience and local knowledge will be in high demand.

HONG KONG

Happy New Year! 2017 started off busy with a number of new searches launching in the first week. Openings are mainly within transactional practices; however, there are a few disputes openings for associates at the senior level. Most of these openings are replacement roles. A few law firms (especially UK law firms) are having internal discussions in the next couple of weeks regarding 2017 headcount. We foresee more roles will be released to the market after Chinese New Year.

SINGAPORE

The Singapore market is off to a strong start this year with several opportunities in finance at international firms and a good indication from clients that it is going to be a busy year with good growth. A turbulent 2016 saw firms cautious with their hiring plans, but we are hearing from clients that they are currently assessing their hiring needs for the year ahead and see opportunities for growth in corporate, arbitration and specialist areas.

AUSTRALIA

January is always a quiet month for the Australian market, with office closures over Christmas and the New Year, and with Australia Day towards the end of the month, movement tends to slow to snail’s pace until the start of February. January is a good month for those associates in the market to evaluate their position and make enquiries about other potential opportunities available to them—domestically or internationally. Especially for mid-level corporate and banking lawyers, the market is very much open to those who seek a change. 

* * * * * * *

RECENT PARTNER MOVES IN ASIA PACIFIC

Partners

Practice

To

From

Location

Andrew Payne

Restructuring and Special Situations

DLA Piper

Clearwater Capital Partners

Hong Kong

Stephen Chan

Capital Markets

Dechert

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

Hong Kong

Yue Han

Corporate M&A

King & Wood Mallesons

JunHe Law Offices

Beijing

Wei (David) Li

Corporate M&A

Han Kun Law Offices

Global Law Office

Beijing

Xiaoming Li

Corporate M&A

Han Kun Law Offices

White & Case

Beijing

Xiaoyang Li 

Corporate M&A

King & Wood Mallesons

JunHe Law Offices

Beijing

Yurong Ye

Corporate M&A

Miao & Co.

King & Wood Mallesons

Beijing

Rocky Lee

Private Equity and Venture Capital

King & Wood Mallesons

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

 Beijing, Silicon Valley

Yang Liu

Corporate and M&A 

Clyde & Co Westlink, Chongqing

HaoLiWen Partners, Shanghai

 Chongqin, Shanghai

Amigo Xie

Corporate

K&L Gates

Llinks Law Offices

 Shanghai

Jianwei (Jerry) Fang

Disputes

Zhong Lun Law Firm

Global Law Office

 Shanghai

Simon Poh

Corporate

K&L Gates

Linklaters

 Shanghai

Wayne Lee

Corporate

Allen & Overy

Shearman & Sterling

 Shanghai

Feixiang Yang

Restructuring

Zhong Lun Law Firm

Jun Yue

 Shanghai

Brian Law

Intellectual Property

Harry Elias Partnership

Wong & Partners

 Shanghai

Chou Ching

Corporate Real Estate

Rajah & Tann

Dentons Rodyk

 Shanghai

Cindy Quek

Corporate Real Estate

Rajah & Tann

Dentons Rodyk

 Shanghai

Edmund Leow

Tax 

Dentons Rodyk

Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore

 Shanghai

Farhana Siddiqui

Finance

Withers KhattarWong

Drew & Napier

 Shanghai

Gazalle Mok

Corporate Real Estate

Rajah & Tann

Dentons Rodyk

 Shanghai

John Dick

Energy

Dentons Rodyk & Davidson

DA Partners

 Shanghai

Keith McGuire

M&A and Joint Venture

PwC Legal

Ashurst

 Shanghai

Natalie Breen

Cross-border Real Estate

PwC Legal

Norton Rose Fulbright

 Shanghai

Nathan Bush

Investigations and Antitrust

DLA Piper

O’Melveny & Myers

 Shanghai

Norman Ho

Corporate Real Estate

Rajah & Tann

Dentons Rodyk

 Shanghai

Shijie Tan

Corporate Real Estate

Rajah & Tann

Dentons Rodyk

 Shanghai

Jeffrey Maddox

Capital Market

Jones Day, Singapore

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Hong Kong

 Singapore, Hong Kong

Nicholas Lum

Shipping and International Trade

Ince & Co

Oon & Bazul

 Singapore, Shanghai

Gyo Toda

Securities

TMI Associates

Nishimura & Asahi

 Tokyo

Masakazu Iwakura

Corporate M&A

TMI Associates

Nishimura & Asahi

 Tokyo

John Mann

Corporate

K&L Gates

Clarendon Lawyers

 Melbourne

These listed partner moves are obtained from both public sources and Major, Lindsey & Africa. This list is not intended to represent Major, Lindsey & Africa as the consultancy involved in the moves, although some moves may have been brokered by Major, Lindsey & Africa.

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