Hong KongOne Year After Launch, UK-Based Osborne Clarke Exits Hong Kong
The law firm opened the location under its own name last year and was previously in an association with a local firm.
April 23, 2020 at 04:04 AM
3 minute read
U.K.-based Osborne Clarke is set to shutter its Hong Kong office at the end of June, just a year after the firm launched its brand in the region.
The firm cited disruption and uncertainty triggered by the lengthy political protests and then compounded by the coronavirus pandemic as factors in the closure.
In an announcement the firm it added it will refocus its regional growth plans on its offices in China, Singapore and India.
Osborne Clarke has launched four offices in Asia in the last six years through partnerships with local firms, including BTG Legal in India in 2014, OC Queen Street in Singapore in 2016, and Zhang Yu & Partners in mainland China in 2017.
The Hong Kong office currently consists of eight employees including two partners, two associates, a trainee, and support staff. The firm stated that all would be supported until the closure to seek new roles.
Osborne Clarke has had a presence in Hong Kong for five years. It initially formed an association with local firm Koh Vass & Co whose partners John Koh and Marcus Vass, previously at Bird and Bird, helped to launch the Hong Kong office. Following the end of the association period in February 2019 the firm started trading as Osborne Clarke.
In a statement, Osborne Clarke international CEO Simon Beswick commented: "This has been a very difficult decision. Hong Kong was an important part of our Asia strategy as we are working with many interesting clients in the region, to which we remain firmly committed as a key part of our overarching international strategy.
"The Hong Kong business and legal markets, however, have changed dramatically in the last nine months. While we have made every effort to invest in and support the office and our team leading up to, and during, a very difficult period, we have finally had to take the decision to withdraw.
"We would like to thank our team for their significant efforts and will be fully supporting them during their transition to new roles."
The firm has two partners in its China office and three directors in its Singapore office.
Osborne Clarke is the second firm to announce its pulling out of Hong Kong this year, following Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in March. The move came just three years after it overhauled its strategy for the Asian financial hotbed.
With reporting by Vincent Chow
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