Allen & Overy (A&O) has been hit by the departure of a seven-partner corporate team from its Hong Kong office, with the group quitting for Latham & Watkins, Legal Week can reveal.
The US firm has recruited seven partners, including highly-rated Asia corporate chief Michael Liu and China group head Kenneth Chan, leaving just four partners in the magic circle firm’s Hong Kong corporate group.
The other partners quitting to join the US firm are Jane Ng, Simon Berry, Stanley Chow, William Woo and Cathy Yeung.
The dramatic exit represents one of the most significant departures ever seen from the foreign network of a magic circle firm. The foreign offices of leading London firms have so far proved largely impregnable to predatory attentions of US rivals aside from Italy, a market that has proved tough for UK firms to manage.
Liu and Chan landed some big-ticket mandates for A&O’s corporate practice, including helping the firm to become the first London-based adviser on the Beijing Olympics in 2002. The corporate and finance work was handed out by the Beijing Municipal Development and Planning Commission, which advised on the building of a variety of facilities for the recent games.
Other large mandates for Liu included the 2006 float of Bank of China and the £1.45bn initial public offering of China Life Insurance, when the firm advised on Hong Kong law.
A&O managing partner Wim Dejonghe said: “We can refocus, and this is a good opportunity to rebalance. We have had quite a bit of work in the region and Hong Kong is keeping up strong.”
The A&O team hire continues Latham’s recent recruitment drive. Early last month it emerged that former Linklaters Dubai banking partner Tim Ross had joined the firm’s newly-opened Dubai office after high-profile corporate partner Bryant Edwards and M&A partner Charles Fuller were transferred to the region.
The firm unveiled plans earlier this year to open three new offices in the Middle East, launching in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Latham poached Vinson & Elkins corporate partner Rindala Beydoun to head the practice and continues to transfer partners out to the busy region.
The US giant also bolstered its Italian practice with hire of corporate finance specialist Antonio Coletti from Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners in Rome.
An A&O spokesperson said: “We are completely committed to continuing to invest in and grow our greater China capability as one of our key strategic priorities. We continue to have the resources locally, let alone globally, to meet the needs of our clients and we are confident that we will continue to have one of the strongest practices in the Asian market.”
A&O has over 200 lawyers in Asia, including 100 corporate specialists.
Latham opened in Hong Kong in 1994 and has around 30 lawyers.
