自11月初刚刚迎来原洛克律师事务所香港办事处管理合伙人张永良加盟后，夏礼文律师事务所近日又迎来一支9人的公司金融团队加盟其香港办事处，他们仍悉数来自洛克，其中还包括合伙人黄汉柱。
黄律师的职业领域主要为资本市场、公司法和证券监管合规，除他外，团队中还包含顾问King Hui、王季生，以及高级律师梁嘉雯。
随着这支队伍的离开，洛克目前在香港仅剩下一位合伙人Greg Burch。该律所在接受ALB采访时表示：“我们内部已经和这支队伍沟通了很长时间。我们希望能够在现有条件下继续壮大亚洲业务——保留香港执业执照，在香港、美国及伦敦办公室都雇用跨领域律师。Greg Burch现在是我们的香港管理合伙人，他手下还有其他几位律师。我们仍会对香港市场保持敏锐观察。”
洛克在如此短时间内相继失去多位律师似乎并不令人惊讶：对于整个大中华地区的美国律所来说，这都是一段可谓艰难的时间。过去几年中，类似长盛律师事务所、凯威莱德律师事务所、法朗克律师事务所、查德本·派克律师事务所等都相继减缩了它们在这一区域的业务，其他一些律所则传闻将撤出大中华区市场。
夏礼文律师事务所目前在大中华区拥有85名律师，其中包括22名合伙人。
HFW plunders Locke Lord in Hong Kong for 9 more lawyers
HFW has followed up its recent hire of Locke Lord’s Hong Kong managing partner Wing Cheung with the addition of a nine-member corporate finance team from the same firm, including partner Matthew Wong.
Besides Wong, who also specialises in capital markets, company law and securities regulatory compliance issues, the team includes counsel King Hui and Roger Wong and senior associate Carmen Liang.
With the departures of the team, Locke Lord now has a sole partner in Hong Kong - Greg Burch. When contacted by ALB, the firm said: “We have been talking internally with this team and their transition for some time. We look forward to continuing our strong Asia practice as we have – maintaining our Hong Kong law license and with attorneys across key sectors in our Hong Kong office, our U.S. offices and our London office. Greg Burch is our Hong Kong Office managing partner, operating with a few others from new office space. We will continue to carefully monitor the Hong Kong market.”
The loss of so many lawyers from Locke Lord comes at a time when the legal market in Greater China has been growing increasingly difficult for U.S. law firms. In the past few years, the likes of Troutman Sanders, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson have substantially withdrawn from the region, while a number of others are reportedly mulling their China presence.
HFW now has 85 lawyers in Greater China, including 22 partners.
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