Pinsent Masons to Launch Flexi-Lawyer Service Vario in Hong Kong With Former Axiom Asia Head
Kirsty Dougan joins Vario as Asia managing director based in Hong Kong.
March 19, 2019 at 08:28 AM
3 minute read
Pinsent Masons has recruited former Axiom Asia head Kirsty Dougan to launch Vario, its flexible lawyering arm, in Hong Kong.
Dougan joins Vario as managing director of Asia, based in Hong Kong. She had been Axiom's Asia head between 2014 and 2018, advising general counsel on legal department management and restructuring, and recruiting freelance lawyers.
Dougan was one of Asia's early adopters of the flexible lawyering model. In 2009, she launched her own company, Asia Counsel, in Hong Kong with former Citigroup investment banker Serena Wallace-Turner. Asia Counsel was acquired by Axiom in 2010 and became the U.S. company's Asia operations.
Before moving into alternative legal services, Dougan was a Shanghai-based in-house counsel at British spirits giant Diageo from 2006 to 2009, and built the company's legal function for Greater China.
At Vario, Dougan will launch operations in Hong Kong in the coming months. Vario's London-based director Matthew Kay said the plan is for Dougan to build a team of about a dozen managers between Hong Kong and Singapore to support the Asia operations. Kay also said the Hong Kong operations will build a bench of 50 to 100 freelance lawyers during the next 12 months. Globally, Vario currently has more than 600 freelance lawyers.
"[Pinsent Masons] is on such a strong growth trajectory and I am very excited to be able to work with the Vario team to continue this successful path in Asia," Dougan said.
Hong Kong will be Vario's second location in Asia. It launched in Singapore last year, and the Australia operations launched in 2017—Vario's first expansion outside the U.K. Vario currently operates in 12 cities: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester in the U.K.; Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia; and Singapore.
Kay told The Asian Lawyer last month that Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong are natural choices to add to Vario's flexible lawyer offering because Pinsent Masons' own offices there have already built scale. Kay said he plans to continue to expand Vario, with continental Europe now on its radar, pointing to Pinsent Masons' recent launch in Frankfurt—the U.K. firm's third office in Germany after Munich and Duesseldorf.
Other flexible lawyer services have also been expanding in Hong Kong in recent years. In January, alternative legal services provider Elevate Services acquired Hong Kong-based Cognatio Law. Allen & Overy and Eversheds Sutherland launched their own flexible lawyering services, Peerpoint and ES Agile, respectively, in 2015.
Herbert Smith Freehills' Alternative Legal Services business, which provides technological solutions for document review and e-discovery, will also expand into Hong Kong in April.
|Related Stories:
Pinsent Masons' contract lawyer service Vario growing at 25%-30% a year
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 AllJapanese Boutique Marks First Foray Overseas With Singapore Opening
Clifford Chance Under Fire for Human Rights Assessment of Saudi Arabia World Cup Bid
5 minute readBaker McKenzie Appoints New India Practice Chair and Other Asia Pacific Moves
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Trump's Return to the White House: The Legal Industry Reacts
- 3Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 4Climate Disputes, International Arbitration, and State Court Limitations for Global Issues
- 5Judicial Face-Off: Navigating the Ethical and Efficient Use of AI in Legal Practice [CLE Pending]
- 6How Much Does the Frequency of Retirement Withdrawals Matter?
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