ALB’s Next-Generation Cities identifies the best full-service law firms in emerging commercial centres across Asia. As Osaka, Guangzhou, Bangalore and Penang become increasingly important to the global economy; the market demands a corresponding growth in superior and sophisticated legal services. ALB has identified and profiled the top full-service law firms in these next-generation cities.

Although dwarfed by the much larger clean energy market that is China, Southeast Asia is slowly but surely finding its feet as an upcoming renewable energy hub. Despite obstacles in the form of high entry costs, underdeveloped infrastructure and an uncertain regulatory environment, the ASEAN region shows great promise in sectors like solar, wind and geothermal energy, finds Ranajit Dam

Despite the global financial downturn, Islamic finance has seen astounding growth. North Asia is looking at cashing in on the action – Hong Kong plans to introduce legislative changes to spur Islamic finance, and Japan is poised for its first sukuk issuance. Can North Asia become a viable destination for shariah-compliant financing? Kanishk Verghese investigates

There has never been a better time to be a betting man, what with the breakneck pace of casino construction emerging as one of the year’s strongest trends to date. Spiraling out from Macau, developers are now hungrily looking at new markets in the region to capitalise on an industry that has brought in profits of $33.5 billion to Macau in 2011 alone. Seher Hussain investigates what is next for the gaming market…

Think Macau; think the hottest gaming spot this side of the Pacific – and the most profitable one in the world. Flush with massive money from the mainland and an unparalleled expansion trajectory, the former Portuguese colony off China’s southern coast is bursting with opportunities.

The 2012 China Fast 10 recognises the law firms that showed the strongest performances in this rapidly growing market with regards to physical expansion and revenue growth. Divided by the expansion approaches of volume or specialisation, or a combination of both, the fast 10 firms are strategically preparing themselves to take further advantage of China’s industrial upgrading and overseas investments.

The world's top four accounting firms will have to bring in Chinese citizens to run their operations in China and end the dominance of foreign partners under new rules announced by the Finance Ministry on Thursday.

Hard Landing? - Worries of a possible “hard landing” of the world’s second-largest economy have risen with China’s quarterly growth rate dropping to its slowest in three years. The National Bureau of Statistics on April 13 announced that the annual rate of GDP growth in the first quarter slowed to 8.1 percent from 8.9 percent in the previous three months, and a run rate below the official 7.5 percent 2012 target.

A Hong Kong Court of Appeal judgment from last December has now cast a spotlight onto arb-med, a dispute resolution approach routinely used in China and Japan. Although the mechanism is allowed in Hong Kong, it has curiously never been utilised there. Candice Mak finds out why

Chinese private equity funds are facing a shake-up with the boom times ending for many, as fund raising dries up and new tougher rules are expected to be introduced later this year. The time is approaching when the wheat will be separated from the chaff. What will funds need to do to survive in this tough climate, and where are China’s most prominent sponsors headed? Candice Mak reports