Big Four's EY Hires Lawyers on Demand APAC Co-Founder as Singapore Partner
John Knox leaves LOD after 11 years with the flexible lawyering service pioneer and its predecessor firms.
December 09, 2019 at 05:04 AM
4 minute read
Big Four accounting firm EY has hired John Knox, a co-founder of the Asia-Pacific arm of flexible lawyering service pioneer Lawyers On Demand (LOD), as a partner and leader of its Asia-Pacific legal managed services based in Singapore.
Knox leaves LOD after 11 years with the ALSP and its predecessor firms. In 2008, he founded Sydney-based Advent Lawyers, which merged with Perth-based rival Balance Legal in 2012, becoming AdventBalance. In 2016, LOD merged with AdventBalance and Knox stayed on as a director, spending time in Sydney, Singapore and New York. Earlier this year, LOD acquired Australian ALSP Lexvoco.
Previously, Knox was head of business development at Allen & Overy in Hong Kong and New York. Before that, He was a business development manager at legacy Mallesons Stephen Jaques and legacy Deacons Australia, both in Sydney.
At EY, Knox will help grow the auditor's legal ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on alternative legal services. "EY [L]aw is combining people, process and technology in a way that few can to help clients deliver more with less," Knox said in a LinkedIn post. "The recent acquisitions of Riverview Law and Pangea3 just highlight the ambition," he noted.
EY acquired Pangea3, which outsources legal work to India, from Thomson Reuters in June, and DLA Piper-backed Riverview, which provides a virtual legal management platform, in August 2018. The ALSP acquisitions helped the accounting giant jump four places to the top spot in Acritas's global ranking of the brand strength of ALSPs this year, Acritas director Jo Summers told The American Lawyer in October, displacing Big Four rival PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Several ALSPs have expanded into Asia in recent years, including Pinsent Masons launching its flexible lawyering arm Vario in Hong Kong earlier this year with the hire of former Axiom Asia head Kirsty Dougan, and in Singapore last year. Also earlier this year, U.S.-based Elevate entered Hong Kong by acquiring locally based flexible lawyering service provider Cognatio Law, which was launched by Lesley Hobbs, a former Hong Kong head of client solutions at LOD.
In addition to alternative legal services, EY has been aggressively expanding its legal services in Asia since last year. Its Hong Kong law firm, LC Lawyers, recruited five partners from Am Law 100 firms, including managing partner Rossana Chu from Troutman Sanders. In Singapore, EY launched a new local law firm last year, Atlas Asia Law Corp., by recruiting a four-lawyer team from Dentons Rodyk & Davidson, led by senior corporate partner Evelyn Ang. And in September, EY Law Vietnam hired former Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer Michael Beckman as its managing partner.
In July, EY's Chinese member law firm, Chen & Co. Law Firm, expanded into the southern China technology hub of Shenzhen via a merger with local firm Guangdong Allied Law Firm.
Dmitry Tetiouchev, EY Law's Singapore-based Asia-Pacific leader, told The Asian Lawyer in April that the Asia expansion will continue. He plans to add a broad technology practice in Hong Kong as well as expanding its firms in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
A Sydney-based spokesperson for LOD said Knox was in the U.S. to explore the potential for LOD to enter the market, but moved back to Singapore for personal reasons and, after extensive discussions around possible roles within the business, he decided to leave LOD.
The spokesperson added that "LOD remains interested in the potential of the U.S. market" and that the company will "continue to review acquisition opportunities and has just not found the right one as yet".
"None of this changes our plans in any of our markets. We continue to work with in-house teams and ambitious lawyers, helping them to work smarter and more innovatively with our secondments, consulting and legal manages services offerings," the spokesperson said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllRivals Seize Opportunity as A&O Shearman, Hogan Lovells Vacate South Africa
5 minute readSwiss Lawyers Sanctioned by U.S. Treasury Over Russia Denounce 'Political' Accusations
3 minute readExclusive: Mayer Brown Shutters Mexico City Office, Lawyers Scatter
Kingsley Napley and Lord Pannick Spearhead Private Schools' Challenge to Government VAT Policy
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4Trump Files $10B Suit Against CBS in Amarillo Federal Court
- 5Meet the Lawyers on Kamala Harris' Transition Team
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250