ALB 50 2009: Asia's Largest Law Firms

ALB 50 2009: Asia's Largest Law Firms

For law firms around the world, it is been a tumultuous and transformative year – one in which growth and decline have come hand in hand. On one hand, the global legal services industry has experienced what has been considered the worst financial crisis since the depression, forcing law firms to downsize and scrap growth plans. On the other, some firms have ploughed on and opened new offices, continued at normal recruitment levels or forged alliances. Meanwhile, a broader debate circulates in the industry – whether law firms must drastically change the way they operate. Whether firms that have adopted alternative business models will be able to continue their growth as the downturn really bites is yet to be seen. More certain is that an impressive number of firms, especially domestic firms just outside the very top tier, have managed an equally impressive rate of growth over the past 12 months.

ALB 50: Asia’s largest firms
Rank	Firm	Total lawyers & partners	Country of origin	Asia managing partner/chairman(s)	Lawyers (Asia)	Partners (Asia)	Offices in Asia
1.	Dacheng	835	China	Wang Zhongde	503	332	28
2.	Baker & McKenzie	821	US	Poh Lee Tan	574	247	14
3.	King & Wood	800	China	Wang Ling, Wang Junfeng	610	190	16
4.	DeHeng	675	China	Wang Li	590	85	14
5.	FoxMandal Little	450	India	Som Mandal	400	50	14
6.	Nishimura & Asahi	440	Japan	Akira Kosugi	358	82	1
7.	Kim & Chang	430	Korea	Young Moo Kim	310	120	1
8.	Grandall	419	China	Multiple	317	102	10
9.	Amarchand & Mangaldas	410	India	Shardul S Shroff, Cyril S Shroff	374	36	5
10.	Jun He	338	China	Xiao Wei	260	78	7
11.	JSM (operates in association with Mayer Brown and Mayer Brown International)	336	Hong Kong/ US	Elaine Lo	257	79	7
12.	Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu	332	Japan	Kenichi Fujinawa	265	67	1
13.	Allen & Overy	315	UK	Thomas Brown	249	66	9
13.	AllBright	315	China	Multiple	244	71	5
15.	Lee & Ko	312	Korea	Yong Suk Yoon	211	101	2
16.	Allen & Gledhill	310	Singapore	Lucien Wong	196	114	1
17.	Linklaters	300	UK	Zili Shao	249	51	6
17.	Longan	300	China	Xu Jiali	250	50	5
19.	Zhong Lun	296	China	Zhang XueBing	208	88	5
20.	Clifford Chance	292	UK	Peter Charlton	236	56	6
21.	Mori Hamada & Matsumoto	286	Japan	Multiple	205	81	3
22.	Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu	282	Korea	Dong-Geul Byun	204	78	3
22.	Kangda	282	China	Fu Yang	227	55	11
23.	TMI Associates	271	Japan	Katsuro Tanaka	214	57	2
24.	Anderson Mori & Tomotsune	263	Japan	Multiple	197	66	2
25.	Zhongyin	262	China	Zhao Zenghai	226	36	16
26.	DLA Piper	255	UK	Alastair Da Costa	205	50	6
27.	Drew & Napier	250	Singapore	Davinder Singh	167	83	1
28.	Guanghe	248	China	Tong Xin	166	82	3
29.	Rajah & Tann	243	Singapore	Steven Chong	126	117	2
30.	Bae, Kim & Lee	242	Korea	Y. S. Oh	242	73	3
31.	WongPartnership	241	Singapore	Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara	170	71	2
32.	FreshfieldsBruckhaus Deringer	234	UK & Germany	Simon Marchant	206	28	6
33.	Jones Day	223	US	Multiple	169	54	7
34.	Shin & Kim	215	Korea	Doo-Sik Kim	155	60	2
34.	Zhonglun W & D	215	China	Zhang Derong	180	35	11
36.	AZB & Partners	200	India	Multiple	185	19	4
37.	Guantao	199	China	Cui Liguo	156	43	10
38.	Herbert Smith	195	UK	Multiple	151	44	6
39.	White & Case	195	US	Barrye Wall	150	45	7
40.	Lovells	189	UK	Crispin Rapinet	157	32	7
41.	Luthra & Luthra	186	India	Rajiv Luthra	160	26	3
41.	Morrison & Foerster	186	US	Multiple	135	51	5
43.	Deacons	180	Hong Kong	Lindsay Esler	133	47	4
44.	Khaitan & Co	178	India	Haigreve Khaitan	144	34	4
44.	Jincheng Tongda & Neal	178	China	Tian Yu	123	55	7
46.	Yulchon	167	Korea	Woo, Chang Rok	125	42	2
47.	Paul HastingsJanofsky & Walker	157	US	Multiple	118	39	4
48.	Global Law Offices	150	China	Liu Jinrong	110	40	2
47.	Tian Yuan	150	China	Wang Lihua	114	36	2
50.	SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan	148	Philippines	Llewellyn Llanillo	104	44

Domestic Asian firms, with their broader and often more anti-cyclical bases of work and clients, have either held on to their rankings or have registered impressive growth – sometimes through acquisitions of smaller firms and boutiques (in Korea, Hwang Mok Park recently merged with Hanseung), sometimes through aggressive programs of office openings (such as in the case of new top-ranked firm Dacheng in China). The performance of Korea’s chasing pack of firms has been particularly impressive.

India
Rank	Firm	Total lawyers & partners	Managing partner(s)	Total lawyers	Total partners	Offices
1.	FoxMandal Little*	450	Som Mandal	400	50	17
2.	Amarchand & Mangaldas	436	Shardul Shroff, Cyril Shroff	394	42	5
3.	AZB & Partners	204	Zia Mody, Ajay Bahl, Bahram Vakil	185	19	4
4.	Luthra & Luthra	186	Rajiv Luthra	160	26	3
5.	Khaitan & Co	178	Haigreve Khaitan	144	34	4
6.	J Sagar Associates	160	Jyoti Sagar, Berjis Desai	123	37	5
7.	Trilegal*	104	Management by committee	90	14	4
8.	ALMT Legal	95	Sakate Khaitan, Aliff Fazelbhoy	80	15	3
9.	Thakker & Thakker	60	Bijesh Thakker	53	7	3
10.	Titus & Co Advocates	49	Diljeet Titus	40	9	9

But with the GFC comes the spectre of slashed external legal spending by clients strapped for cash. As these companies search for efficiencies, one wonders whether more will follow the lead of mining giant Rio Tinto, which recently chose to outsource low-end work to 12 lawyers in India through the partnership with outsourcing firm CPA Global. “We’ve seen a number of different shifts in work around the world,” says Joanne Hon, CPA’s Hong Kong manager. “A lot of clients have been very receptive to moving work to lower cost centres with good human resources such as India, so the next trend will definitely be LPO.” The deal is said to save Rio Tinto around 20% in its estimated external legal spend of around US$100m. What we’re seeing here is shrinkage in the pie itself, not just how big each firms’ slice is.
However, no-one can argue with the numbers. And nowehere are the numbers bigger than in China.
As China’s prominence in the global economy grows, so too it seem, its law firms have followed. This year, the ALB 50 list includes as many as 16 firms from the PRC. Chinese firms have shown that they are emerging as serious contenders against the longer-established industry heavyweights, and some are even launching offices in regions more often targeted by international firms: Zhonglun W & D has just announced plans to launch a branch office in Riyadh, making it the first PRC firm in the Middle East.


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