Weil Gotshal turns back on Brussels as firm focuses on Beijing and HK launch
Weil Gotshal & Manges has made a highly symbolic decision to pull the plug on its Brussels office, as the firm focuses its fire on Asian expansion with plans to open in Beijing and Hong Kong. The New York firm is to close its Belgian operation in the summer and will handle European competition issues out of its other offices in the region.
March 28, 2007 at 11:38 PM
2 minute read
Weil Gotshal & Manges has made a highly symbolic decision to pull the plug on its Brussels office, as the firm focuses its fire on Asian expansion with plans to open in Beijing and Hong Kong.
The New York firm is to close its Belgian operation in the summer and will handle European competition issues out of its other offices in the region.
The office, which has shrunk to just two lawyers, advises on competition, corporate and intellectual property (IP) work.
The move will make Weil Gotshal one of the few major international firms not to have a presence in Europe's regulatory capital.
Meanwhile, the top 25 US firm has announced ambitious growth plans for Asia following the application for a licence to open in Beijing.
The firm, which already operates an office in Shanghai, hopes to open for business in China's capital in the late summer with a combination of lawyers hired in the local market and some transferred from other offices.
The firm also hopes to open in Hong Kong in the near future, with the ultimate aim of housing around 25% of its lawyers in Asia, the same proportion as it does in Europe. The changes would give the firm a total of 20 offices worldwide.
Weil Gotshal chairman Stephen Dannhauser told Legal Week: "The decision to close Brussels has been taken because our competition and regulatory needs are being serviced effectively from our other offices in Europe."
He added: "We are very excited about the prospects in Asia. Currently 25% of our firm is in Europe and we would like to have as strong a platform in Asia as we do in Europe."
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