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COVER STORY: Constant gardeners
Can radical pruning make Asia pay? |
The senior partner of a Magic Circle firm tells this column that a recent trip to China had left him more upbeat about his firm’s expensive Asia strategy. The reason being that, after a dinner with his firm’s China lawyers that had finished after midnight, the associates all went back to work. It is a telling indicator of the difficulty global firms face making money in Asia that seemingly innocuous anecdotes such as these are seen as evidence that the profitability tide is turning. Few deny that you need to be in Asia. Yet client pressure on charge-out rates, brutal currency fluctuations and expensive overheads mean that UK firms in the region are posting million-pound losses.
So what to do? While the usual mantra of being ‘lean and mean’ applies to Asia more than any other region, it is clear that this inevitably means the death of ‘all-equity’ partnerships. The likes of Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith and even Slaughter and May have had this tool at their disposal for years. But Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s decision to introduce ‘local’ partners for the first time this summer was an overdue admittance that flexible remuneration systems are the only way to increase profitability in Asia. For cash-obsessed management teams in London, the other lesson to be learned is the need for patience. Key advisory roles to Chinese companies in particular will help define the dominant global legal players of the future. That elusive top-tier transatlantic merger might even depend upon it.
James Baxter, editor
LEGAL BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS
The ultimate partner moves and our special Job of the Month section |
THE LEADER Pritchard
All-equity partnerships enter twilight zone
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THE BUSINESS
Richard Lloyd reports on the US firms making moves in London. Plus exclusive news and the best market analysis |
THE FORUM Law firm branding; philanthropy
Peter Shaw, of Brand Catalyst, on why law firms need to sharpen their marketing strategies in the post-Clementi climate |
Author Charles Handy ignites the debate on philanthropy and business |
 PARTNERSHIP FOCUS Lex-Men
From Magic Circle to smaller niche practices, Anthony Notoras contrasts the working lives of five very different partners in five very different firms
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COVER STORY: ASIA Cutting back
From bespoke buildings to paying a premium for the right location, many law firms are making a statement by moving premises. Sam Kenworthy finds out who’s going where and why |
 CHANCERY DIVISION On the bench
Dominic Carman turns the tables and asks the barristers to give their verdicts on the judges of the Chancery Division
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HEDGE FUNDS Advance to Mayfair
Several US firms are targeting the UK’s lucrative hedge fund market. Claire Smith reports on Simmons & Simmons’ and Dechert’s struggle to defend their position as the City’s leading specialist advisers
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 AUSTRIA Going solo
With M&A activity slowing down and eastern European markets maturing, Austrian firms have seen business fall. But the EU accession countries may bring new opportunities, writes Derek Bedlow
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THE LAST WORD
Norton Rose’s Mike Rebeiro on following a ‘higher’ path than law
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