Hong KongFangda Scores as Shearman & Sterling Loses Hong Kong Capital Markets Team
Partners Colin Law and Peter Chen launched a Hong Kong law practice for the U.S. firm eight years ago; now they are the latest in a wave to join Chinese firms.
October 24, 2018 at 10:46 AM
4 minute read
The Chinese firm Fangda Partners has hired Shearman & Sterling's Hong Kong capital markets team headed by Asia capital markets team leader Colin Law.
The four-lawyer team also includes Hong Kong partner Peter Chen, one counsel and one associate. A start date and details of the transition are still being worked out. Fangda and Shearman will collaborate on ongoing projects during the transition period.
Law and Chen, both Hong Kong-qualified, advise on listings and transactions related to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Last month, Law represented the underwriters, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, on Shanghai-based drugmaker Hua Medicine Ltd.'s $110 million initial public offering in Hong Kong. In 2016, both Law and Chen represented the underwriters on power generator maker VPower Group International Holdings Ltd.'s $208 million Hong Kong listing.
The duo joined Shearman from O'Melveny & Myers in 2010 to launch Shearman's Hong Kong law practice. Law was previously a partner with legacy Lovells.
The arrivals will add a crucial Hong Kong law piece to Fangda's capital markets practice in the city, and help the Chinese firm build toward a market-leading corporate practice. The firm has recently also recruited former King & Wood Mallesons partner Christine Chen, who specializes in U.S. securities law. Chen practiced with Davis Polk & Wardwell in Hong Kong and was an in-house counsel at JPMorgan before joining King & Wood Mallesons.
U.S. firms have long faced fee pressure in Hong Kong capital markets work and the diminishing profitability of the practice has led firms to cut back from the market or exit completely. More recently, Troutman Sanders decided to close shop in China because the firm didn't want to focus on Hong Kong securities work. Before that, New York's Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson closed their China offices in 2016 and 2015, respectively. In 2014, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy dropped its Hong Kong law license due to low profitability.
Meanwhile, the Chinese firms have been picking up the slack, trying to expand their roles beyond advising Chinese law. Before Fangda hired Law, several other Chinese firms picked up ex-Shearman lawyers in attempts to build up a Hong Kong law practice. Earlier this month, Jingtian & Gongcheng hired former Shearman associate Stella Yeung as a partner in its Hong Kong associate firm L&C Legal. In May, former associate William Ji formed an association with China's Tian Yuan Law Firm.
Shanghai-based Fangda reported 485 lawyers in 2017, surpassing rival JunHe for the first time. The firm had $169.5 million in gross revenue and $1.1 million in profit per equity partner, making it one of the most profitable domestic firms in China.
Besides Law and Chen, the Hong Kong office has six other partners: U.S. law capital markets partners Matthew Bersani and Alan Yeung, investment funds partner Lorna Chen, mergers and acquisitions partner Stephanie Tang, projects partner Sean Wang and international arbitration partner Nils Eliasson. Four additional partners also spend time in Hong Kong: M&A partners Paul Strecker in London, Li Chen in Beijing and Sidharth Bhasin in Singapore and capital markets partner Kyungwon Lee in New York.
Related Stories:
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 All
Gibson Dunn Sued by Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
Australian Corporations More Concerned About Class Actions Risk, HSF Report Finds
3 minute read
Singapore Oil Tycoon Appeals 17.5 Year Prison Sentence In Fraudulent Trading Case
Charles Russell Speechlys Opens in Milan to Focus on Ultra-High Net Worth Clients
Trending Stories
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
