COVER STORY TOP 50 INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRMS 20I7 20I6 Total No. RANK RANK FIRM / HEADQUARTERS Partners Associates of Lawyers I = Baker McKenzie U.S. 307 550 942 2 up Linklaters UK 58 374 432 3 down Clifford Chance UK 79 250 377 4 up DLA Piper UK/U.S. 57 I89 246 5 up Hogan Lovells UK/U.S. 5I I78 233 6 down Herbert Smith Freehills UK/Australia 52 I44 230 7 up Mayer Brown JSM U.S. 78 I40 227 8 up Norton Rose Fulbright UK 62 I34 226 9 up Allen & Overy UK 45 I65 22I I0 up Jones Day U.S. 54 9I I86 II up Eversheds UK 43 I40 I85 I2 up Morrison Foerster U.S. 6I II9 I80 I3 down Ashurst UK 35 I28 I63 I4 up Morgan, Lewis & Bockius U.S. 45 66 I48 I5 down Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer UK 40 82 I4I I6 down White & Case U.S. 55 84 I39 I7 down Sidley Austin U.S. 27 I07 I38 I8 down Reed Smith U.S. 44 74 I35 I9 down Stephenson Harwood UK 36 94 I32 20 up Latham & Watkins U.S. 35 95 I3I 2I down Taylor Wessing UK 39 66 I2I 22 up HFW UK 38 80 II8 23 down K&L Gates U.S. 53 58 III 24 up Clyde & Co UK 36 65 I02 25 down Bird & Bird UK 30 69 99 26 = Davis Polk & Wardwell U.S. I2 63 96 27 up Kirkland & Ellis U.S. 35 56 9I 28 up Watson, Farley & Williams UK 22 63 88 Linklaters overtakes 29 down Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom U.S. I8 68 86 Mayer Brown JSM as the 30 = Simmons & Simmons UK 38 I9 85 3I up Squire Patton Boggs U.S. I7 44 79 largest international firm 32 = Shearman & Sterling U.S. 26 36 72 in Hong Kong, while the 33 up Ropes & Gray U.S. I9 4I 72 Philippines has a new 34 up Paul Hastings U.S. 27 36 68 35 up CMS UK/Germany I7 47 65 No. 1 in SyCip. These are 36 up Simpson Thacher & Bartlett U.S. I4 5I 65 just some of the biggest 37 down Kennedys UK 26 38 64 changes in this year’s 38 up Berwin Leighton Paisner UK I8 43 62 annual list of the largest 39 up O'Melveny & Myers U.S. I5 22 57 40 down Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe U.S. 20 29 52 firms in Asia by ALB, 4I down Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton U.S. 8 37 52 which highlights the 42 down Ince & Co UK I6 26 5I biggest in each jurisdiction, 43 down Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy U.S. I3 35 5I as well as those with 44 = Slaughter and May UK I2 38 50 45 down Pinsent Masons UK 33 I6 49 the most lawyers across 46 down Duane Morris & Selvam U.S. I8 I9 44 the region. 47 up Troutman Sanders U.S. I0 23 38 48 up Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison U.S. 7 25 35 RESEARCH BY ALB 49 down Winston & Strawn U.S. 9 I9 28 TEXT BY JOHN KANG 50 = Weil, Gotshal & Manges U.S. 8 I4 25 22 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – NOVEMBER 2017 LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM TOP 50 ASIAN LAW FIRMS COVER STORY 20I7 20I6 Total No. RANK RANK FIRM / HEADQUARTERS Partners Associates of Lawyers Asia’s Top 50 I = Yingke Law Firm China I860 3602 5462 2 = Dentons Dacheng China I547 3360 4966 Although Asia saw another busy year of 3 = DeHeng Law Offices China 482 I8I2 2446 lateral hires, office openings and closures, 4 = AllBright Law Offices China 508 I480 I988 as well as a few mergers, there were no 5 = Zhong Lun Law Firm China 372 I276 I658 new international firm in this year’s top 6 up King & Wood Mallesons 326 I275 I645 China/Australia 50 in Asia. 7 = Grandall Law Firm China 400 I200 I600 U.S. firms accounted for 27 of the 50 8 down Zhong Yin Law Firm China 303 II09 I4I2 largest firms in the region, while there 9 up Beijing DHH Law Firm China I02 I059 II6I were 19 UK firms. Four firms in the top 50 I0 = Zhong Lun W&D Law Firm China 402 7I2 II47 have dual headquarters: DLA Piper (UK II down Long An Law Firm China I50 850 II00 and U.S.), Hogan Lovells (UK and U.S.), I2 down Kim & Chang South Korea I30 730 860 Herbert Smith Freehills (UK and Australia) I3 up JunHe China I82 446 686 and CMS (UK and Germany). I4 up Jincheng Tongda & Neal China 202 482 684 There are four UK firms in the top 10, I5 up Tahota Law Firm China I50 5I0 660 one less than last year after Jones Day I6 up Hiways Law Firm China I02 460 647 edged out Eversheds for Ashurst’s #10 I7 down Rajah & Tann Singapore 231 401 632 spot by one lawyer. Dual-headquartered I8 down Cyril Armarchand Mangaldas India I00 50I 6I3 firms DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells and I9 up Lee & Ko South Korea I83 420 603 Herbert Smith Freehills are #4, #5 and 20 down Guanghe Law Firm China 20I 39I 592 #6, respectively. 2I down Bae, Kim & Lee South Korea 204 377 581 Baker McKenzie continues to top the the list for the fourth straight year despite 22 up Guantao Law Firm China 153 406 567 having eight less lawyers than last year, 23 = Nishimura & Asahi Japan 131 383 565 while Magic Circle firms Linklaters and 24 down Beijing Tiantai law Firm China 210 338 562 Clifford Chance switched places this year, 25 up Fangda Partners China 92 460 552 finishing #2 and #3, respectively. 26 down Khaitan & Co India 112 426 538 Notable moves included Eversheds, 27 down Sichuan Mingju Law Firm 75 452 527 China which catapulted from #26 to #11. The 28 = Shardul Armarchand Mangaldas & Co India 91 409 506 firm expanded by 86 lawyers from last year 29 down Allen & Gledhill Singapore I8I 284 467 after merging with Singapore firm Harry 30 up ETR Law Firm China I24 324 448 Elias Partnership earlier this year. Morgan, 3I up Mori Hamada & Matsumoto Japan I06 34I 447 Lewis & Bockius is another major mover, 32 down Jointide Law Firm China I3I 303 446 moving up from #21 to #14, after bulking 33 = Yulchon South Korea I50 269 420 up in Greater China. 34 NEW Duan & Duan China I43 267 4I0 The top 50 Asian law firms table 35 down Shin & Kim South Korea I62 204 404 changed little, with just two PRC firms – 36 up Anderson Mori Tomotsune Japan I22 227 397 Duan & Duan at #33 and Zhongwen Law 37 up Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu Japan I0I 237 393 Firm at #44 – joining the group this year. 38 up Yoon & Yang South Korea I23 I98 390 Notable dropouts included China’s Jingtian 39 down AZB & Partners India 65 3I0 375 & Gongcheng, which was #30 last year, 40 up Global Law Office China 84 285 369 and Singapore’s Drew & Napier, which 4I down WongPartnership Singapore I22 243 367 was #50. 42 = Luthra & Luthra India 6I 292 353 PRC firms Yingke Law Firm and Dentons have cemented their places as 43 = King & Capital China II3 229 347 the top two largest firms in Asia, with 44 down JunZeJun Law Offices China I03 243 346 5,462 and 4,966 lawyers, respectively, 45 NEW Zhongwen Law Firm China 154 173 327 both increasing in strength by about 800 46 up East & Concord Partners China 96 226 322 lawyers. China-based firms continued to 47 down Tian Yuan Law Firm China 106 212 318 dominate the table, with 30 firms based 48 up TMI Associates 90 224 314 Japan in the PRC, two more than last year. South 49 down J. Sagar Associates India 89 203 297 Korea and India both have six firms, and 50 down Hylands Law Firm China 80 164 294 Japan has five. LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – NOVEMBER 2017 23 COVER STORY ONC Lawyers, which celebrates its & contract division at Robert Walters in North Asia 25th anniversary this year, is also a big Hong Kong, explaining that the firms are mover, with the local firm increasing its targeting the more smaller and mid market In Hong Kong, local firms have grown total number of lawyers by a third to 41, IPOs, which tend to be PRC companies. despite more international as well as jumping to #9 from #13 last year. In the Hong Kong international firm PRC firms opening offices in the city and “Hong Kong and PRC law firms are table, Linklaters rose from #4 to take the competing for local talent. Deacons, the aggressively trying to grow in Hong Kong crown as the city’s largest international undisputed largest local firm in Hong and are active, especially in the capital firm from Mayer Brown. It grew by 42 Kong, added 29 lawyers, increasing the market space,” says Ricky Mui, director lawyers – mostly associates – while the gap between it and its competitors. of legal & compliance, commerce finance U.S. firm added six lawyers. HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL JAPAN INTERNATIONAL 20I7 20I6 Total No. 20I7 20I6 Total No. RANK RANK FIRM Partners Associates of Lawyers RANK RANK FIRM Partners Associates of Lawyers I up Linklaters 27 I64 I9I I = Baker McKenzie 48 86 I56 2 down Mayer Brown JSM 6I II6 I86 2 = Morrison Foerster 37 69 I06 3 = King & Wood Mallesons 29 97 I70 3 up Linklaters 6 42 48 4 up Baker McKenzie 52 84 I55 4 = White & Case I5 25 46 5 down Clifford Chance 35 I0I I55 5 up Clifford Chance 9 3I 46 6 = DLA Piper 30 83 II3 6 down Jones Day I2 2I 45 7 up Reed Smith 28 56 92 7 down Herbert Smith Freehills 7 28 36 8 up Allen & Overy 2I 23 88 8 = Hogan Lovells 8 25 33 9 up Sidley Austin I3 73 88 9 = Squire Patton Boggs 7 I8 33 I0 down Herbert Smith Freehills I6 46 87 I0 up Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe II I8 29 II up Norton Rose Fulbright 22 52 85 II down Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 4 I7 26 I2 up Stephenson Harwood 2I 6I 82 I2 up DLA Piper 4 I9 23 I3 up Eversheds Sutherland I5 63 78 I3 up Allen & Overy 5 I4 22 I4 up Davis Polk & Wardwell 9 52 77 I4 = K&L Gates 7 I2 I9 I5 up Kirkland & Ellis 28 47 75 I5 down Ashurst 5 I4 I9 I6 down Hogan Lovells I8 53 73 I6 NEW Norton Rose Fulbright 6 I0 I8 I7 NEW Latham & Watkins I8 52 70 I7 NEW Shearman & Sterling 4 8 I5 I8 down Freshfields 22 40 68 I8 NEW Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 3 6 I2 I9 down Ashurst I4 52 66 I9 NEW Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 3 8 11 20 NEW HFW 20 45 65 20 NEW Sidley Austin 2 7 11 HONG KONG DOMESTIC JAPAN DOMESTIC 20I7 20I6 Total No.