Eric Berg, White & Case Eric Berg, White & Case.

White & Case's Asia-Pacific head Eric Berg is retiring at the end of the year after 38 years with the firm.

Berg, who spent his entire career at White & Case, has been leading the firm's Asia-Pacific practice since 2015, splitting his time between Hong Kong and Singapore. Before becoming head of the firm's Asia-Pacific practice, he led the global banking practice from New York for 20 years. Berg said after retiring he plans to move back to the U.S. and spend more time with his grandchildren.

After Berg leaves, the firm will not replace him with a new Asia-Pacific head. Instead, a four-member council consisting of finance partner Baldwin Cheng and Asia-Pacific chief operating officer Jennifer Parks in Hong Kong, project finance partner Andrew Clark in Melbourne, and Asia-Pacific director of marketing and business development Chelsea Friend in Sydney, will oversee the firm's Asia-Pacific practice, Berg said.

The council was created about a year and a half ago. At the same time, Cheng and Clark were appointed Asia-Pacific regional section heads for corporate finance and projects and disputes, respectively.

White & Case's Executive Committee will work closely with the council members and a number of other leaders in the region. Don Baker, a member of the Executive Committee, has been mandated to support the Asia-Pacific practice as a formal component of his portfolio.

Berg noted that during his tenure as Asia-Pacific head, White & Case's lawyer head count in the region grew from 150 to 220. According to data compiled in the Asia 50, White & Case reported 143 lawyers in the Asia-Pacific region in 2014 and 183 in 2018.

Under Berg's leadership, the firm added new offices in Seoul, Melbourne and Sydney to its existing Asia network of Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. Some of the most significant growth took place in Australia, where the firm recruited about 30 projects lawyers, including eight partners, from Herbert Smith Freehills between 2016 and 2017 to launch offices in Melbourne and Sydney.

White & Case also recently saw significant growth in Hong Kong, where the firm recruited four private equity partners from Ropes & Gray in February: 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," Berg said. "So we have emphasised PE and M&A as part of our strategy."

Projects and infrastructure is another practice area being emphasised by the firm, Berg said, pointing to the Australia team hire.

"We believe that projects and infrastructure is a huge growth business globally and it's intersecting with areas like M&A," he said. "So buttressing both M&A and infrastructure – we're catching two trends there."

The hires were an effort to focus on cross-border big-ticket work that's important to the firm's clients, Berg said. "Ultimately, if you're not doing that, you're doing more of the commoditised work."

This year, White & Case has been advising U.S.-based Sempra Energy on two cross-border deals – both with companies in China – worth a combined $5.8 billion. The firm put together a cross-border team that includes partners in New York, Shanghai and Beijing.

"The firm believes the Asia Pacific is a very important region for us strategically, and long term we have to be really good here," Berg said.

That mindset is what prompted White & Case's longtime chairman Hugh Verrier, with whom Berg previously competed for the chair role, to ask Berg if he would consider the Asia-Pacific role.

"They wanted someone senior to pay some real attention to it," Berg said.

*Correction Dec. 13: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misstated the council taking over White & Case's Asia-Pacific practice from Eric Berg consists of four partners. In fact, it is two partners and two executives. The excerpt of this article has been modified to reflect that.

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