Above the Law report on Cadwalder’s retreat from China.
We’re not sure that the first para actually describes what happened behind the scenes but if that’s the PR gloss we’ll go with it !
Much more like they just got sick of the fact that the only law is the communist party’s law,that venality greed and mistrust is at such a level in China at the moment that doing business there simply goes in the too hard basket.
Here’s the report…
What does a “quintessential Wall Street law firm” do when it has lawyers in offices that “don’t fit with this vision; they don’t fit with the clients we described, and they don’t fit with the kinds of work we do in other areas”? That firm closes the offices in question and performs layoffs.
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft will be closing two of its offices in China — in Beijing (an office the firm opened in 2005) and Hong Kong (an office the firm opened in 2010) — and laying off the 25 attorneys who work there by year’s end. Here’s more information from Big Law Business:
“It’s a very difficult decision because these are good people,” said [CWT managing partner Pat] Quinn, at a 40th floor conference room table in Cadwalader’s downtown Manhattan office. “…but it’s something we have to do to fit a more focused strategy.”
The decision, being announced to partners today, was made by a special 13-member management team who huddled up over the past three months and discussed a variety of changes the firm could make to ensure its success in the face of partner exits.
Pat Quinn added, “We’ll be as supportive as we can be. Obviously we want to see people land on their feet.”
We wish all of the lawyers and affected individuals at Cadwalader the best of luck while they seek new job opportunities in the legal industry and beyond.
