The American Lawyer - The Asian Lawyer, Winter 2012

isn’t a similar reinforcement for the Hong
Kong lawyers at U.S. firms.

Barron says Davis Polk discussed the possibility of a Hong Kong law practice for three years. The firm ultimately decided that the size of the opportunity in China and the nature of the Hong Kong market made it worth taking a risk.

Chen says that at first he was wary
about Simpson’s expansion into Hong
Kong law—even though he had been a
lateral hire himself. But after Davis Polk
made its move, Chen says that his cau-
tion, as well as that of his partners in New
York, quickly drained away. “That was a
major wake-up call,” he says. “It doesn’t
take smart people a whole lot of time to
figure out what needs to be done.”
Chow, one of Davis Polk’s new hires,
says that once the New York firms decid-
ed to to venture into Hong Kong practice,
they had to look at laterals, because they
had no homegrown candidates they could
turn to. And once the ball really started
rolling, each firm began to worry that the
choicest candidates would soon be gone.
“It did feel like it was one big catch-up,”
recalls Chow. —Anthony Lin

venture with Linklaters, and an alliance with Malaysia’s Rahmat Lim & Partners. Led by managing partner Lucien Wong, Allen & Gledhill advises on some of Singapore’s largest transactions, including a $1.7 billion syndicated loan for Singapore Telecommunications Limited in July.

While Singapore firms are moving out, the big U.S. and U.K. firms are moving in. “We definitely have more competition from international firms,” says Eng at WongPartnership. “Instead of handling an issue from the London office, a firm will actually handle it from Singapore.” But she thinks that the market is big enough for both international and local firms. While international firms tend to focus on huge, multiple-country transactions, she says that Singapore firms are committed to representing homegrown businesses in other parts of Asia. —Dana Olsen

The Churn

WHO

Wally McDonald, former head of Clayton Utz's corporate practice Clayton Utz banking and finance partners Zein El Hassan, Paul Humphreys, and John Moutsopoulos; Australian Export Finance and Insurance Corporation general counsel Tessa Hoser; and Gilbert + Tobin corporate partner Martyn Taylor

The greater part—65 lawyers—of Minter Ellison’s Perth office

MOVED TO

The Sydney office of Piper Alderman

The Sydney office of Norton Rose
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey’s new
Australian office
Intellectual property partner Geoffrey Lin
of Hogan Lovells
Dorsey & Whitney M&A and private equity
partner Michael Chin

The Shanghai office of Ropes & Gray
Hogan Lovells’s Shanghai office
Jones Day litigation and arbitration partner

The Shanghai office of Jun He Law Offices

Jones Day partner Alex Zhang

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey partner

James Zimmerman

The Shanghai office of White & Case, where he will lead the firm's China corporate practice and serve as office head The new Beijing office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton

Hogan Lovells corporate partner Thomas Man and of counsel Brad Herrold

The Beijing office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where Man will be a partner and Herrold will be of counsel

Nicholas Norris, Dominic Tsun, and
Li-Chien Wong, partners at Skad-
den, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; John
Otoshi, Benjamin Su, and David
Zhang, partners at Latham & Watkins;
and Douglas Murning and Ashley
Young, partners at Allen & Overy
O'Melveny & Myers corporate partner
Douglas Freeman and counsel Victor
Chen
Kirkland & Ellis’s Hong Kong office
The Hong Kong office of Fried, Frank,
Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where
both will be partners

Jeffrey Chen, a structured finance partner
at Mayer Brown JSM
The Hong Kong office of Cadwalader,
Wickersham & Taft
Clifford Ng, former partner-in-charge of
K&L Gates's Hong Kong office
Hutchison Whampoa Limited deputy head
group GC Bernardine Lam
Joyce Chan, regional GC at Axa China
Region Insurance Company Limited