Winston & Strawn has closed its offices in Beijing and Taipei, joining
a string of US law firms reassessing their presence in Asia.
The two offices closed in late 2016, and core lawyers were transferred to
the firm’s two remaining Asian offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Senior
intellectual property (IP) associate Gino Cheng moved to Hong Kong from Taipei,
while several other lawyers, including former resident partner Horng-Dar Lin,
have left the firm.
A Chicago-based representative said the consolidation would enable the firm
to operate more efficiently and that it remains committed to Asia and is
focused on strategic recruiting.
Winston now has eight partners in Hong Kong and one partner in Shanghai.
Several partners, including Shanghai-based former Asia employment head Matthew
Durham, Shanghai corporate partners Laura Luo and Bertrand Theaud, and Hong
Kong corporate partner Giovanni Marino, are no longer with the firm
Winston launched its first Asian office in Hong Kong in
late 2008, picking up three partners from Heller Ehrman after
the firm’s dissolution. Two of the three, Simon Luk and David Hall-Jones,
remain Winston partners in Hong Kong, while Michael Phillips left in 2010.
The Chicago-based firm opened both its Beijing and
Shanghai offices a year later. Less than a year after the
Beijing office’s opening, managing partner Ge Xiangyang left for Mayer Brown
JSM, and his successor, Jem Li, quit the firm after three years for Australia’s
Minter Ellison.
The Taipei office opened in early
2014 after Winston hired former Finnegan Henderson Farabow
Garrett & Dunner Taipei partner and IP litigator John Alison. He then
started a Taiwan practice with partners Thomas Jarvis and Vivian Kuo out of the
Washington DC office, and spent most of his time there. Later in 2014, the firm
hired Taiwanese lawyer Horng-Dar Lin as a second partner and started handling
local law work, an unusual move for a US firm.
In Taipei, US firms focus almost exclusively on IP litigation,
representing Taiwan manufacturers on proceedings in the US. Baker McKenzie,
K&L Gates and Jones Day are exceptions, as they also do full-service local
law work. But most of the US firms’ Taiwan offices, including those of
Finnegan, Perkins Coie and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, are intentionally
small and have few or no resident lawyersintentionally small and have few or no
resident lawyers.
Competition and costs have led a number of global law firms to recently reassess their
Asia strategies. Orrick said it was overhauling its
Asia strategy after the bulk of its China capital markets and
corporate team left for Morgan Lewis & Bockius. And last year, Cadwalader
Wickersham & Taft said it was shutting down its operations
in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Source: Legal week.
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