Hogan Lovells is looking to grow its Asia revenue by 10% in the next year by building out partners in China, South East Asia and Japan.

The transatlantic firm, which currently generates more than 90% of its business in the US and Europe, will also make a decision about whether or not to launch in Australia.

"Asia is really important to us for the future. At the moment it accounts for less than 10% of our global revenue, and whilst we have over 250 lawyers in the region, we want to be bigger," said Patrick Sherrington, the firm's regional managing partner.

"We want to strengthen our offering in the mainstream corporate and finance practice areas including energy and projects, and at the same time continue to grow our pan-Asian disputes capabilities in the investigations and international arbitration space.

"The increase will not necessarily change the balance of the global business, because we are expanding elsewhere in the world including in South Africa and Latin America."

Also on the agenda this year will be Australia, with the firm set to decide on how to approach the market, if at all.

Sherrington said a move into the country could involve a merger with a smaller or mid-tier firm, or opening up independently. Key cities of interest currently are Sydney and Perth.

"A lot of firms have done things in Australia but nearly all of them have done something different and the jury is still out on what will work and what will not in the longer term.

"We see Australia as a potentially important market in the context of Asia and our global practice because of the expertise which resides there and its proximity in terms of time zones to Asia in particular, and so a decision on what, if anything, would benefit our offering needs to be made. Focus for us though is very important."

Hogan Lovells has 50 partners in nine Asian offices, located across China, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia and Indonesia in association with Hermawan Juniarto.

The firm first signalled its intentions to increase its Asia platform with the relocation of Sherrington to the region in June last year, who replaced Crispin Rapinet as managing partner for the Middle East and Asia and moved to Hong Kong.

This year the firm has made two senior lateral hires in the region with the addition of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's regional head of IP and TMT for Asia, Mark Parsons joining in Hong Kong, and Herbert Smith Freehills' south east Asian disputes head, Maurice Burke coming on board in Singapore.

This month it has also taken on debt capital markets lawyer Andy Ferris from Allen & Overy, who joins as a partner, also in Singapore.

Sherrington said the city would be a particular focus along with Indonesia in the immediate future.

"South east Asia is where I would anticipate we will see the most growth in the short term," he said. "I think that will involve having a partner resident in Indonesia and developing our joint venture relationship there. We might add a project finance and dispute resolution capability."

Markets the firm will consider for new ventures include Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines, though Sherrington said there were no immediate plans to open offices in those jurisdictions.

Beyond south east Asia, the firm will also keep a close watch on Taiwan and Korea, given the growth in technology-related work in those markets and Hogan Lovells' focus on IP globally.

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