The (UK) Lawyer reports….”Partner numbers across the biggest international law firms in mainland China saw a positive uptick in 2016 despite other firms’ decision to scale down, new research reveals.”
Here’s the introduction to their piece.
Compared with the staggering speed of expansion of Chinese firms, international firms’ China offices seem subdued. But the number of partners in the 20 largest international firms in China experienced a notable rise of 17 per cent to 166 in 2016, up from 142 the previous year.
The Lawyer China Top 30 2017 report’s analysis on the growth of the largest international firms in China, which was based on The Lawyer Global 200 data, shows that although the average size of the top 20 international firms is small – around 8 partners – nine firms added partners in the jurisdiction last year.
The fastest-growing firm by partner headcount was Korean firm Bae Kim & Lee, which entered into the top 20 largest international firms’ ranking after an 800 per cent boost in partner numbers from one to nine in 2016. This allowed it to enter the rankings at a par with DLA Piper (which has nine partners) and above Pinsent Masons, Reed Smith and Sidley Austin, which have eight partners apiece.
The other two fastest growers in the rankings are Kirkland & Ellis, which increased its partner headcount from two to seven; and Morgan Lewis, which grew from three to seven in the same period. Jones Day added four partners and pushed its total to 12, making it the third largest firm in China by partner number.
