BEYOND BOUNDARIES:
Asian firms going global
Ranajit Dam
Southeast Asia Editor
Asian Legal Business magazine
This is the era of cross-border expansion
• Asian law firms today looking outside home
jurisdictions
• Some looking regionally. Example: a
Japanese firm in Hanoi
• Others are looking further afield. Example:
Chinese law firms in London
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Global is the goal for some
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Inherent risks
• Maintaining standards might be difficult
• Competition for talent sometimes intense
• Need familiarity with local culture/business
environment
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Some markets might not be welcoming
• South Korea: Recently opened doors to US
and European law firms
• Singapore: Currently taking steps to liberalise
legal market slowly
• India: “Always three years away” from
liberalisation
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The Voltron Strategy
• Much-loved
Japanese show
from the 1980s
• Individual robot
vehicles combined
to form “super
robot”
• Far greater than the
sum of the parts
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A merger between strong domestic firms
• King & Wood-Mallesons the obvious example
• Two or more firms
• Each strong in its own jurisdiction
• Separate organisational structures under
unified management
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Obvious benefits
• Seamless services across jurisdictions
• Economies of scale
• Easily available overseas expertise
• In-depth local knowledge
• High quality across the board
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Potential initial obstacles
• Possible cultural differences
• Who takes the lead?
• Firms may not always see eye-to-eye
• Some initial overlap
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To start things off…
• Assess potential partners
• Seek initial exploratory talks
• Employ skilled negotiators/go-betweens who
know and understand both parties well
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Who we are
• Asia’s premier legal
solution
• Now owned by Thomson
Reuters
• Professional news and
analysis
• Drawing from Reuters’
resources and best
practices
• We know your world
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Thank you!
Contact me:
[email protected]
+65 9159 6441
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