We won’t carp on about it…
Here’s the lowdown.
Atlanta-based Troutman Sanders will close its three offices in Asia by the end of May.
The U.S. firm announced internally on Monday that it is winding down offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai by May 31 this year, ending 21-year-old Asian operations. It confirmed the move in a statement sent to The American Lawyer and The Asian Lawyer on Tuesday.
“As part of a strategic review and after careful consideration, we have concluded that there is not sufficient overlap between our China practice and our areas of greatest focus,” the firm said. “As a result, we have decided to cease our operations in China and close our Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing offices effective May 31, 2018.
In an interview from China, Troutman’s managing partner, Steve Lewis, said the firm’s areas of strength and focus are middle market clients, with particular expertise in energy, banking and finance, life sciences, and insurance. These are the areas that are key to the firm’s performance, he said.
“Our China practice has very good lawyers, but their focus is predominately Hong Kong securities and M&A work,” Lewis said. “We believe that there are other firms that do that better than we do.”
Troutman’s decision to cease operating in China was not “financially driven,” Lewis said, but based on strategy.
“The China practice doesn’t really move the needle for us on the firm’s financial performance either way,” he said, adding that Troutman in 2017 exceeded its financial goals for the third year in a row. “In our ongoing review of how we’re doing under our strategic plan, our conclusion is that the [Asia practice] overlap is not strong enough.”
