For legal leaders in Asia, 2019 was a milestone year. It was the start of global law firm partners based in the region finally being elevated to the highest positions of their firms.

In October, Baker McKenzie's Hong Kong managing partner Milton Cheng took over as the global firm's first-ever Asia-based global chairman. And just weeks before the end of 2019, Herbert Smith Freehills announced it had appointed Justin D'Agostino, who heads the firm's Asia and U.S. businesses as well as its global disputes practice from Hong Kong, as its next chief executive officer. D'Agostino, who previously managed the Anglo-Australian firm's Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai offices, will begin serving his four-year term as HSF's chief executive in May. 

Hogan Lovells also appointed its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific and Middle East chief executive, Miguel Zaldivar, as its new CEO. He will start his new leadership role on July 1. Unlike the others, Zaldivar is moving back to the U.S. when he assumes his new post.

Even the Big Four accounting firms are acknowledging the experience and skills of their legal leaders in the Asia Pacific, specifically in Australia. Last year, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers both appointed their Sydney-based heads of Asia-Pacific and Australia legal services, Stuart Fuller and Tony O'Malley, respectively, to be their heads of legal services globally.

O'Malley, who took over from Heinz-Klaus Kroppen in Germany, told Law.com International last May that the shift in leadership to the Asia-Pacific reflects a broader economic shift, noting that growth in the Asia-Pacific region was among the fastest in PwC's global legal network in recent years.

Other global legal leaders also see opportunities in Asia, which is why firms have continued to open offices in the region in recent years across Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Shenzhen, and Shanghai's Free Trade Zone.

It's no surprise that global firms are placing increasing importance on Asia, and on leaders familiar with the region. Hong Kong, despite its political conflicts, is still one of the largest initial public offering markets in the world by funds raised; since 2009, the city has topped the annual rankings for funds raised seven times, including in the last two years. And Hong Kong and Singapore, occupy two of the four most popular international arbitration seats globally.

Some of the biggest cross-border deals in recent years have been by companies in Asia. Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s $62 billion takeover of Irish drugmaker Shire Plc. was the largest acquisition announced in the world in 2018. Other large cross-border deals include China National Chemical Corp.'s $45 billion acquisition of Swiss-based Syngenta AG and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp.'s $32 billion purchase of British chip designer ARM Holdings Plc., both in 2016.

Asia is also where some of the largest infrastructure developments are happening. China is currently in the middle of its Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese government-led $1 trillion economic project announced in 2013 that aims to build infrastructure in more than 60 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa. Several countries in Southeast Asia also have huge infrastructure plans, including Indonesia, which is seeking more than $400 billion in investments from 2020 to 2024 to build projects.

More importantly, the recent Asia appointments point to a bigger change: Big Law is becoming more open-minded. As Baker McKenzie's Cheng, a Singapore native, told Law.com International in November: "It takes a progressive organization to recognize the growth and the growing importance of Asia to the point where they are prepared to have their global leader from the region."