Firm mulls further co-operation agreements as part of plans to grow Asia revenue to 20% of firmwide total

Bird & Bird is mulling ambitious plans for further expansion in Asia, with openings in Indonesia and South Korea on the cards alongside plans to ramp up its existing offering in Malaysia. 

The UK outfit, which has previously stated its aim to grow its Asia practice to account for 20% of firmwide revenues and lawyer headcount over the next three to five years, is reviewing opportunities for co-operation arrangements in Indonesia and South Korea, as well as planning to enhance its partnership with Tay & Partners in Malaysia ahead of market liberalisation in June.

It wants to target lucrative intellectual property (IP) and technology-related work in South Korea, while in Indonesia it hopes to grow its capabilities beyond IP into energy and corporate work. 

In Malaysia, it wants to add to its existing capabilities by relocating partners from other Asian offices, and to focus on knowledge transfer and joint marketing in preparation for the opening up of the market to the international legal community later this year. 

News of the plans comes weeks after Bird & Bird signed a co-operation agreement with Sydney law firm Truman Hoyle, which it hopes to extend to a full merger within the next 12 months.

In the short term, the two firms are also focusing on joint marketing initiatives and growth through lateral hires, with an opening in Melbourne also under consideration, as the city is perceived as a hub for Australian IP work. 

Justin Walkey, Bird & Bird's China executive committee chairman, who relocated to Hong Kong in October, said the non-exclusive co-operation agreements allow the firm to try out joint working arrangements before pushing for a full merger. 

The long-term plan is for the firm to have a network of offices around Asia-Pacific with the same core practice focus as its bases within Europe, where it recently struck partnerships in Denmark and Switzerland. 

Its Danish merger with Bender von Haller Dragsted will go live on 1 May, while it entered into a co-operation agreement with Swiss firm BCCC Avocats earlier this month. 

"Ultimately, the objective is that either through co-ops or best-friend relationships, we have a properly joined-up service offering that covers the whole of Asia-Pacific," said Walkey.

"[In Australia] there were one or two very large firms looking for tie-ups, but they were too big for us. We looked at what other people had done, and the Clifford Chance model looked like it was working well." 

Forthcoming hires within Bird & Bird's own offices in Asia could include a TMT specialist in Singapore and IP and aviation experts in Hong Kong, in addition to a corporate team in Shanghai. The firm is also considering boosting its litigation and arbitration capabilities.