How long are biglaw firms going to keep offices in China/Hong Kong? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I can't imagine all of these U.S. Biglaw and Magic Circle firms are going to be able to keep operating over there for much longer. As the economies start to decouple, their western clients are going to have less and less business to do in China. Also, working at a firm cooperating with a genocidal regime may not be very appealing to potential associates.

Has anyone working at these firms heard about pressure to shut these offices down or split them off from the rest of the firm?

[Anonymous User]

What do you even mean by “Also, working at a firm cooperating with a genocidal regime may not be very appealing to potential associates.” Are you actually at a biglaw firm? Have you checked your firm’s client list?

So by having a Chinese office does that mean the firm is cooperating with a genocidal regime? Should all law firms also disavow any US company with Chinese owners that eventually ties back to China? We have kids in cages. Should biglaw stop “cooperating” with the US government? Or do you not care about kids?

[Sackboy]

Hong Kong is one of the largest global financial centers. Firms aren't going anywhere. Bad post and bad use of anon.

[Anonymous User]

OP seems to have a very sophisticated understanding of geopolitics and international political economy...

[Anonymous User]

Worked at a V10 as a summer last year. Asked one of the partners in the international group something similar. That partner said HK office may be moved to Shanghai. So it seemed they were concerned about HK, but don't want to loose their clients in the mainland.
OP can also check the recent recruiting ad in China/HK/Singapore re foreign law firms. Much hotter than last year I would say. Biglaw don't care about how shady their clients are. Has any firm dropped any big pharma/fossil fuel clients yet? Exactly.

[Anonymous User]

Current associate practicing in Asia. As previous posters have indicated, it’s unlikely that biglaw is going to pull out of the Chinese/HK market entirely. What’s more likely is a shift in the nature of the work that goes through HK due to the changes that are being imposed on it by Beijing. HK became a significant location for international deals in no small part due to it’s common law legal system and the strength of its international arbitration system. As HK’s legal system is restructured and the political situation sours further, businesses may look elsewhere to conduct their non-Chinese international/Asia-Pacific work (Singapore, etc.), but work for Chinese clients is unlikely to move. The upshot is that some offices may downsize and/or relocate to the mainland, but won’t completely disappear.

That being said, barring some massive upheaval, any such change is going to occur at a glacial pace, and likely won’t have a noticeable impact in the near term. Also, as with any speculation on this point, I am probably one news cycle away from being completely wrong, so take the above with a grain of salt.

[cfcm]

So by having a Chinese office does that mean the firm is cooperating with a genocidal regime?

Yes.

As for whether anything will change, no.

[Anonymous User]

What do you even mean by “Also, working at a firm cooperating with a genocidal regime may not be very appealing to potential associates.” Are you actually at a biglaw firm? Have you checked your firm’s client list?

So by having a Chinese office does that mean the firm is cooperating with a genocidal regime? Should all law firms also disavow any US company with Chinese owners that eventually ties back to China? We have kids in cages. Should biglaw stop “cooperating” with the US government? Or do you not care about kids?

OP here, no I don't work in BigLaw, I work at an organization attempting to answer some of the questions you asked. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that America, whatever its faults, is not morally equivalent to a totalitarian state attempting to exterminate an entire ethnoreligious group.

I appreciate the other responses ITT, trying to get an understanding of general attitudes.

[Anonymous User]

What do you even mean by “Also, working at a firm cooperating with a genocidal regime may not be very appealing to potential associates.” Are you actually at a biglaw firm? Have you checked your firm’s client list?

So by having a Chinese office does that mean the firm is cooperating with a genocidal regime? Should all law firms also disavow any US company with Chinese owners that eventually ties back to China? We have kids in cages. Should biglaw stop “cooperating” with the US government? Or do you not care about kids?

OP here, no I don't work in BigLaw, I work at an organization attempting to answer some of the questions you asked. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that America, whatever its faults, is not morally equivalent to a totalitarian state attempting to exterminate an entire ethnoreligious group.

I appreciate the other responses ITT, trying to get an understanding of general attitudes.

OP, FWIW, I am guessing most ppl here (as with most other ppl in the world) do not know or care that there is an actual genocide happening in China at the moment - Biden is in his whitehouse and all's right in the world. In future, you might need to approach posting here with a bit more cynicism.

With that said, I don't see any law firms pulling out and don't think anyone would really say that a law firm having an office in china = supporting genocide.

[Anonymous User]

Don't think any of the elite law firms will pull out. A substantial part of their Asian clients lists are Chinese enterprises, including Chinese state-owned enterprises (this is especially true for v10s and magic circles).