If 2009 Was an Annus Horribilis for Legal Services Markets Across The
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FEATURE | fast 30 >> ► ALB FAST 30 2010: AT A GlaNCE Firm Home jurisdiction(s) Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Japan If 2009 was an annus horribilis for legal Ashurst UK Atsumi & Sakai Japan services markets across the region, Azmi & Associates Malaysia Bae Kim & Lee Korea then 2010 by comparison must surely be Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft US seen as an annus mirabilis. Spurred on by Dacheng China DFDL Mekong Pan South-East Asia sound economic recovery and a discernable Gaopeng & Partners China increase in transactional levels in fee-fat Gibson Dunn & Crutcher US HanKun China areas such as M&A, banking & finance and Indochine Counsel Vietnam Jade & Fountain China capital markets, the last 12 months saw a JC Master China number of law firms deliver the lightning K&L Gates US Khaitan & Co India growth that has become a hallmark of the LexField China Asian market. Mayer Brown JSM US Norton Rose UK In this year’s ALB Fast 30, the firms that Oon & Bazul Singapore Pinsent Masons UK stood tall above the rest are singled out. Shin & Kim Korea They have used mergers to bulk up, Stephenson Harwood UK Watson Farley & Williams UK aggressive recruitment strategies to explode Wikborg Rein Norway into new practice areas or jurisdictions, or WongPartnership Singapore Yingke China their own verve, agility and talent to record Yulchon Korea Zhejiang L&H China a year of strong growth ZhongYin China Firms arranged in alphabetical order 34 Asian Legal Business ISSUE 11.01 FEATURE | fast 30 >> CHINA Chinese law firms continue to set the pace in Asia as they grow at a rate that eclipses all other firms in this year’s ALB Fast 30. The challenge for these quick-moving firms now will be to ensure their business models are premised not only on aggressive growth but also sustainability in the mid to long term Yingke The firm struck an alliance with Malaysia’s Azmi & Associates and Managing partners: Mei Xiangrong, Hao Jordanian firm Abunameh & Partners. The firm saw an increase Huizhen, Zheng Shuchun, Zhao Xingren, of 30% in PEP, but managing partner Zhao Cenghai, seemingly Li Hua unhappy with such a ‘modest’ increase, believes profits will grow Offices: Beijing, Shi Jiazhuang, Tianjin, faster in the year ahead as the firm’s prudent expansion starts to pay Nanjing, Shanghai, Hohhot, Shenyang dividends. Revenue growth: 787% “We are focusing on the future and long-term success instead of PEP growth: 828% immediate gratification and will continue to put efforts in ‘investment Partners: 82 (+1,071%) activities’,” he said. Perhaps a model of sustainability that other PRC Qualified lawyers: 341 (+380%) law firms may want to emulate in the years ahead? Summary: Triple-digit financial and headcount growth is something few law Jade & Fountain firms can match, but PRC firm Yingke brought on board enough Managing partners: Scott Guan, Mark Ho new partners to register growth figures in quadruple digits. The Offices: Beijing, Shanghai firm opened branches in Shi Jiazhuang, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Revenue growth: 30% Hohhot and Shenyang, and the growth won’t stop there, according PEP growth: 15% to Mei Xiangrong, the larger-than-life director of the firm’s managing Partners: 18 (+35%) committee, who has his heart set on making Yingke the country’s next Qualified lawyers: 55 (+25%) Dacheng. “It’s increasingly difficult for smaller firms to stay competitive in this market. So the partners have decided to attract a large number Summary: of talented lawyers and together we aim to forge a leading PRC firm 2010 was another strong year for this on a global scale,” he explained. Yingke plans to open more than Shanghai-based outfit. The firm registered a 30% increase in 40 branches and grow total headcount to over 1,000 in the next three revenue on the back of increased activity in its core areas of years. The firm dipped its feet into the international market earlier this practice: FDI, M&A and PE. Jade & Fountain also made a number year through a tie-up with Hungary’s Varnai & Partners and established of high-profile lateral hires after raiding the mainland operations a framework to set up a Yingke & Varnai legal alliance in Europe. of a number of international law firms. Song Liwei (from Gide Loyrette Nouel) and Jeffery Yang (Freshfields) were two such hires. The firm also welcomed Henry Xiao, William Lu and Zhongyin Lawrence Guo (Lu and Guo joined from fellow PRC firm Broad & Managing partners: Zhao Cenghai, Tang Bright after both working in the Beijing office of Allen & Overy). Jinlong Offices: Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Shanghai, Guiyang, Guangxi, LexField Sichuan, Jinan, Jixi, Taizhou Managing partner: Jan Liu Revenue growth: 130% Offices: Beijing PEP growth: 30% Revenue growth: 29% Partners: 32 (+88%) PEP growth: -41% Qualified lawyers: 349 (+50%) Partners: 8 (+167%) Qualified lawyers: 15 (+150%) Summary: Formed by the 2008 merger between Zhongyin and fellow Beijing Summary: outfit Zhengtai, the firm has clearly retained its appetite for expansion. IP boutique LexField’s solid fee-earner growth 2010 marks the second year in a row that Zhongyin has made the sees it included in this year’s ALB Fast 30. The firm posted a 29% ALB Fast 30. The firm makes the cut this year for its 130% spike in increase in takings over the last financial year and increased its revenues, ostensibly on the back of the success that its recently opened partner and fee-earner stocks by 167% and 150%, respectively. On branch offices have had in attracting and retaining new clients. Two the lateral-hire front, the firm welcomed seasoned IP practitioner of these offices, in Xiamen and Fuzhou, were opened to attract more Jiang Hongyi and his ten-strong team and also secured the services cross-Strait legal work (set to blossom following the signing of the of an experienced Beijing High Court judge, Cheng Yongshun, who ECFA), while branches in Jinan, Jixi and Taizhou have significantly joined as a senior counsel. The firm will hope that its somewhat broadened the firm’s regional client base. In a year that was defined by alarming decrease in PEP (down by 41%) will be improved in the year the international expansion of PRC law firms, Zhongyin was also active. ahead and is planning continued organic growth in 2011 to this end. www.legalbusinessonline.com 35 FEATURE | fast 30 >> Gaopeng & Partners firm Yunnan BaQian Law Group, but it also subsumed Guangzhou Xin Managing partners: Wang Lei, Hu Lianping Yang, as well two Beijing-based outfits Kingfield and Fengqing. The Offices: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, firm’s managing partner Wang Zhongde has somewhat ominously Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou stated that there is more to come. The firm already has alliances in Revenue growth: 29% Singapore and India, leaving South-East Asia as the next destination. PEP growth: 29% Partners: 46 (+35%) Qualified lawyers: 96 (+47%) Zhejiang L&H Managing partners: Zheng Jindu, Li Jing, Summary: Zhu Yayuan, Dai Wenliang, Chai Shanming, 2010 may be the first year that this Beijing-based firm has made the Gao Zhenghua, Jin Weiwen ALB Fast 30 cut, but that isn’t to say that it hasn’t been registering Offices: Hangzhou, Zhoushan, Yiwu strong growth over the past few years. On the back of strong Revenue growth: 22% demand in its core areas of practice – WTO and international trade, PEP growth: 20% infrastructure projects, real estate and media, entertainment and Partners: 30 (+3%) sports – the firm has seen its revenues increase by 29% and its fee- Qualified lawyers: 109 (+19%) earner count expand by a similar margin. The firm also solidified its foothold in the lucrative Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region (the firm Summary: opened offices in Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nanjing and Hangzhou), an The Hangzhou-based outfit’s 2008 merger with Yaxiya saw its area which it clearly acknowledges will fuel its future growth plans. revenues spike. The firm’s takings were up by almost a quarter (22%) “We’ve always preferred to establish ourselves in regional areas. courtesy of the firm’s core areas of practice – corporate, IPOs, finance, One of the impetuses for our decision is the increasing exportation real estate, IP and cross-border investment. business in the YRD region,” said managing partner Wang Lei. “The Zheng Jindu, the firm’s founder and managing partner, believes the branch offices will work closely with our headquarters – we are key to future growth lies with servicing the ever-increasing number of looking to integrate international business work across the board.” budding entrepreneurs in the Zheijiang area. “Post-GFC, our clients are placing more importance on being able to withstand risks, so they also have stricter requests and higher demand for quality legal JC Master services,” Zheng says. “This mindset brings about more work, since Managing partner: Justin Ma our clients require stringent regulatory and compliance advice.” Offices: Nanjing Revenue growth: 27% PEP growth: 20% Han Kun Partners: 8 (+0%) Managing partners: Charles Li, Joseph Qualified lawyers: 19 (+19%) Hwang, Chao Yijun, Chen Dafei Office: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen Summary: Revenue growth: 20% A winner at the 2010 ALB China Law Awards PEP growth: -30% in the ‘Jiangsu Law Firm of the Year’ category, JC Master can now Partners: 11 (+38%) also lay claim to being one of Asia’s fastest growing law firms, Qualified lawyers: 31 (+40%) after registering a 27% increase in revenues. Unlike so many of its peers in the Chinese legal services market, the firm says it is Summary: committed to organic growth. This is evident in its reluctance Despite its relatively tender age, Han Kun has won mandates that to laterally hire partners from its competitors – a strategy that are elusive to even more established players in the market.