The Big Four accounting firms/courtesy photos

An analysis of last year's partner hires in Asia shows that the Big Four accounting firms continued to expand into legal services across the region and Chinese firms actively recruited lawyers from U.S. firms, trends that are likely to continue. 

The affiliated law firms of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers hired 17 partners across Asia in 2019. That's up from 11 in 2018, when the Big Four began their aggressive expansion into the region's legal market.

Deloitte led the hiring spree with seven partner hires. Five of the seven partners joined its Hong Kong-affiliated law firm, Yang Chan & Jamison, which was launched in January 2019; the remaining two joined DT Legal Japan in Tokyo. EY recruited five partners, two each in Singapore and Hong Kong, and one in Ho Chi Minh City. KPMG hired three, all in Shanghai, while PwC recruited two, one each in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Six of the 17 Big Four partner hires joined from U.S. firms: two each from Jones Day (to Deloitte in Tokyo), Paul Hastings (to EY in Hong Kong) and Dentons (also to EY, but in Singapore). None joined from U.K. firms; instead, seven of the 17 jumped from China-based firms.

The Big Four plan to continue expanding in Asia. KPMG's affiliated law firm in Shanghai, called Shanghai SF Lawyers, is planning to hire 12 lawyers in 2020, including up to two partners. The Shanghai firm was launched in December with a 13-strong corporate team, including three partners; most of the team joined from the Chinese firm Grandall Law Firm. Legal services leaders for EY and PwC told Law.com International that they will also continue their Asian expansion.

In addition to the Big Four, U.S. firm leaders will want to keep an eye on Chinese firms. In 2019, 9.3% of the 86 laterals from U.S. firms joined Chinese firms; the figure is slightly down from the previous year (13.7%), but still significantly up from 2015 (4.8%).

In total, Chinese firms hired 22 partners from global firms in 2019, the same number as the previous year and more than triple the seven partner hires in the 14-month period ended February 2016. All but six of the 22 partner hires were in Hong Kong, as Chinese firms push for a more prominent role in listings work in the city, the top market in the world for initial public offerings.

One of the notable partner hires by Chinese firms last year was Nan Li, a former partner and Beijing chief representative at Paul Hastings who joined Tian Yuan Law Firm's Hong Kong office. Li, together with former Paul Hastings partner Steven Winegar, advised on a $400 million Hong Kong listing of Ascletis Pharma Inc. in 2018, which was the first prerevenue biotechnology company to list in Hong Kong under new listing rules.

Out of the 174 partner-level hires in Asia recorded by Law.com International in 2019, White & Case was the busiest recruiter, hiring nine partners across Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul. Four of the nine hires were in Hong Kong, all from Ropes & Gray's private equity practice: former partner Daniel Yeh, counsel Steven Sha and associates William Fong and Paul Tang; Yeh now heads White & Case's Asia-Pacific private equity practice.

"You see the amount of PE money building up around the world and you see it in Asia, too," former White & Case's Asia-Pacific head Eric Berg told Law.com International in December, shortly before he retired from the firm. "So we have emphasized PE and M&A as part of our strategy."

White & Case also lost four senior lawyers in Asia who went on to be partners at other firms; all but one—former local partner (equivalent to counsel) Karl Pires in Tokyo, who joined Shearman & Sterling as a partner and as its Japan M&A head—were partners at White & Case when they left.

Meanwhile, the biggest loser was Morrison & Foerster, which saw eight senior lawyers leave the firm to join partnerships elsewhere. All but two of the departures were in Tokyo, where the U.S. firm has one of the largest offices among global firms, with about 100 lawyers. Three partners jumped to Latham & Watkins, one senior of counsel went to K&L Gates, one counsel also went to K&L Gates, and one counsel left for Norton Rose Fulbright.

The remaining two Morrison & Foerster departures are former senior counsel Xiaohu Ma in Beijing, who went to Chinese firm Hui Zhong Law Firm, and former counsel Wang Yu in Hong Kong, who jumped to King & Wood Mallesons.

Showing once again the active churn, Morrison & Foerster was also busy recruiting and covering those losses, hiring seven partners across Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The hires included two Latham partners.