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Withers, a U.K.-based firm that specialises in serving private clients, hired 11 partners in Asia in 2018, the most partner hires among the region's international firms that year. But the firm is still growing.

In an interview with Law.com, Withers chief executive Margaret Robertson said Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo will continue to expand as the firm builds strength and depth in its existing Asia offices. She wants revenue from Asia to be on par with Europe and the United States. Asia currently contributes just over 20% of the firm's total revenue, she said, but it's growing faster than Europe and is on track to outstrip the U.S.'s growth as well.

Asia is home to more billionaires than any other region in the world. China alone has 324 people with a net worth of $1 billion or more,  second only to the U.S., which has 607 billionaires, according to Forbes. In fact, 21 Chinese citizens feature in Forbes' list of the top 200 richest people in the world. So it is no wonder that Robertson, who has led Withers since 2007, is counting on Asia to boost the firm's growth.

Margaret Robertson

During an interview in Hong Kong, Robertson detailed Withers' plans for each of the firm's three Asian offices. In Tokyo, the firm's newest office in the region, Withers will continue the expansion of its investment funds practice. Withers launched a Tokyo-based funds practice in 2018 with a nine-lawyer hire; the office was initially set up in 2015 to provide tax advice only.

"The funds opportunities are huge in Tokyo," Robertson said.

Those opportunities are due in part to Japan's central bank adopting a negative interest rate in 2016, thereby lowering the cost of borrowing. This has prompted global investment houses to increase investment in the Japanese real estate market, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

In addition, Japanese businesses with piles of cash are seeking investment opportunities outside of Japan.

"With the [Tokyo 2020] Olympics and Japanese companies looking for investments around the world, there may be [more opportunities] from Tokyo," Robertson said.

In Singapore, where Withers has about 90 lawyers – its largest Asian office – Robertson said the firm will expand its technology practice, as more and more high-net-worth individuals are investing in tech.

"It used to be very much real estate or financial products," she said. "But [clients there] are much more involved in direct investments into businesses, and technology is an area that is very popular." 

In addition, Robertson said Withers hopes to add to its technology practice in Singapore, where the government has been actively pushing to establish the city-state as Asia's tech hub. Since 2016, the Singapore government has committed $13 billion to investments in scientific and technological research during the next five years. The city-state has attracted global tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft, which now make Singapore their Asian headquarters. Moreover, U.K.-based tech company Dyson, best known for its bagless vacuum cleaners, is in the process of relocating its global headquarters to Singapore.

Withers currently has two partners in Singapore who specialise in tech and intellectual property, both of whom joined the firm through its 2018 merger with legacy Singaporean firm KhattarWong.

In Singapore, Withers is also focusing on restructuring and insolvency, an area the firm strengthened through recent hires. And it has met with some success: In 2017, the Singapore office advised Indonesian mining company PT Bumi Resources on a $4.2 billion debt restructuring, one of the largest debt restructuring deals in southeast Asia that year, according to Withers.

Robertson said the Singapore office will be the base for Withers to service its clients in other southeast Asian countries. She has seen a particular uptick in demand from Indonesia, where the local population is facing disastrous repercussions from rising sea levels. Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city, is sinking so fast that 95% of the city is expected to be underwater by 2050. The Indonesian government is considering a $33 billion plan to move the nation's capital from the island of Java to the forested island of Borneo.

"[Our clients in Indonesia] will have homes in different parts of the world," Robertson said.

And in Hong Kong, where Withers opened its first Asia office in 2008, growth is focused on meeting the needs of the increasing number of high-net-worth individuals in the Asian financial centre and across the border in mainland China. The firm currently has about 50 lawyers in Hong Kong, including 14 partners, making it one of the larger international firms in Hong Kong. Withers says it has advised 30% of the top 20 on Forbes' Hong Kong Rich List.

Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are home to the fourth, sixth and eighth most billionaires in the world, respectively, according to Forbes. And Credit Suisse's 2019 global wealth report says 711 people with a net worth of more than $500 million live in China, second only to the U.S., which is home to 1,308 individuals worth more than $500 million. The report also projects that China will have 55% more millionaires by 2024, the second-largest growth globally after Japan among countries with at least one million millionaires.

Robertson stressed that Withers' recent expansion from private wealth into funds in Tokyo and corporate in Hong Kong – and soon tech in Singapore – is highly strategic. 

"We're not just expanding into areas for the sake of it," she said. "It's because our clients are doing things in those areas."

Withers, she explained, wants to get more work from the same people by providing them with a wider range of services. And to get that work, the firm will show it has a strong track record. 

"Private clients are very sophisticated," she said. "They're not going to instruct us just because they like us."

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