ALB Asia Top 50 2018: Another Year of Growth and Expansion

For the fifth straight year, the U.S.-headquartered Baker McKenzie took the top spot in the Asian Legal Business Top 50 international law firm rankings, while China’s Yingke Law Firm headed the table for the domestic Asian firms with a whopping 6500+ lawyers. While some established names dropped down the rankings, many others grew after bolstering their partner and associate numbers. And it all underscored the fact that Asia remained a dynamic market, and will be so for years to come.

A sustained period of political, economic and business change across Asia, 2018 was full of surprises; from landmark political events, the Singapore Summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, to notable trade moves, such as the tariffs imposed by the U.S. on China.

For Asia’s legal market, it was also a year of change. Japan mulled over a decision to potentially allow foreign lawyers to participate in arbitration cases that involve Japanese subsidies of foreign companies. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Hong Kong’s Law Society has proposed new regulations that would make it harder for international firms to employ foreign lawyers. Singapore has also taken a hard look at what can be done to improve its low retention rates in the legal profession, investigating education options and examining new industry practices.

From a personnel perspective, international and domestic firms were on the move this year, expanding, shuffling roles, nabbing new partners and losing others. But it’s no longer just other large firms that rivals are anxious about, with a flurry of independent practices launched this year, flexible working options on the rise and the threat of automation bearing down on the market, for the firms that have successfully navigated this rapidly changing environment and managed to keep their headcount high, it has been no mean feat.

MOVEMENT IN THE RANKS

Baker McKenzie once again took the top spot in the international law firm rankings with an impressive count of 958 lawyers. Given the firm’s track record in previous Asian Legal Business Top 50 rankings, this is no surprise. In both the Japan and China international tables, it was the top firm with 149 and 73 qualified lawyers, respectively.

Following Baker McKenzie on the international table were Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Herbert Smith Freehills, Allen & Overy, Taylor Wessing, DLA Piper, Norton Rose Fulbright, Mayer Brown, Hogan Lovells and Eversheds Sutherland.

Stepping into the 20th position on the international Top 50 table this year was Withers. The firm has been on a hiring spree this year, nabbing partners from firms like Baker McKenzie and Morgan Lewis & Bockius staff, and also beefing up its Tokyo office as it focuses on expanding its Asian offering.

This year, the top spots in Hong Kong’s international law firm rankings saw something of a reshuffle. In 2018, Mayer Brown stepped into top spot with 188 qualified lawyers, up from second place last year. Moving down to into second place was last year’s third-placed firm, King & Wood Mallesons, while Linklaters was in third place.

Meanwhile, on Hong Kong’s domestic table, Deacons was once again top dog, counting 200 qualified lawyers in its stable. It recently hired Peter Cheng as a partner from Davis Polk & Wardwell. Li & Partners took the second spot, while Woo Kwan Lee & Lo slipped into third place. Oldham Li & Nie remained in tenth spot, with 32 qualified lawyers. Earlier this year, the firm shed six lawyers, who went on to launch an independent Hong Kong called Hugill & Ip.

EXPANSION AND AMBITION

While the Japan domestic rankings generally echoed 2017’s results, they nevertheless still showed signs of movement. Once again in prime position was Nishimura & Asahi, with 517 qualified lawyers. The firm also celebrated the launch of its first office in the Western Hemisphere, selecting New York for its new outpost. Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, which moved to second place this year also expanded with a new office in Ho Chi Minh City. Last year’s second-placed firm, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, was in third spot with a headcount of 442.

In the Japan international firm rankings, Baker McKenzie was followed by Morrison & Foerster, White & Case, Clifford Chance and Hogan Lovells in the top five.

With 920 qualified lawyers, Kim & Chang overwhelmingly led the South Korea domestic rankings. It was a big year for the firm which joined its Korean competitors in launching a firm in Ho Chi Minh City. As with last year’s rankings, it was once again followed by Lee & Ko and Bae Kim & Lee.

In the India list, the country’s top four stayed consistent with last year’s ranking. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas stayed in prime position with 682 qualified lawyers, followed by Khaitan & Co, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners. J. Sagar Associates showed gains as it moved into fifth place. The top four also made the Top 50 Asian domestic law firms list, in 21st, 28th, 31st and 42nd place, respectively.

The 2018 Top 50 Domestic Law Firms ranking were largely dominated by Chinese law firms and their mind-bogglingly high headcounts that run in the thousands. Yingke Law Firm retained its position in top spot this year, and the same went for the respective places of Dentons Dacheng, Deheng Law Offices and AllBright Law Offices.

Apart from the four Indian law firms mentioned above, the non-Chinese law firms on the list included six from Korea (Kim & Chang, Lee & Ko, Bae, Kim & Lee, Shin & Kim, Yulchon and Yoon & Yang), five from Japan (the Big Four being joined by TMI Associates) and three from Singapore (Rajah & Tann at 23, Allan & Gledhill and WongPartnership).

Hylands Law Firm shot up 36 places on the list, from 50 all the way to 14, and now has 902 fee-earners. Beijing TianTai Law Firm also moved up, swapping last year’s place at 24, to 17 in the rankings, while there also significant gains for Sichuan Mingju Law Firm and King & Capital Law Firm. As for next year’s numbers, with further market disruption on the horizon, it’s anyone’s game.

Top 50 International Law Firms

2017 Rank	2018 Rank	FIRM	Headquarters	Total Partners	Total Associates	Total Lawyers
1	1	Baker McKenzie	U.S.	304	552	958
3	2	Clifford Chance	UK	80	250	368
2	3	Linklaters	UK	58	243	334
6	4	Herbert Smith Freehills	UK/Australia	69	244	327
9	5	Allen & Overy	UK	63	215	300
21	6	Taylor Wessing	UK	114	163	292
4	7	DLA Piper	UK/U.S.	79	189	246
8	8	Norton Rose Fulbright	UK	60	174	234
7	9	Mayer Brown	U.S.	79	138	232
5	10	Hogan Lovells	UK/U.S.	52	134	230
11	11	Eversheds Sutherland	U.S./UK	49	156	205
19	12	Stephenson Harwood	UK	57	135	192
12	13	Morrison & Foerster	U.S.	59	113	176
13	14	Ashurst	UK	39	133	172
10	15	Jones Day	U.S.	53	62	152
15	16	Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer	UK	38	87	147
20	17	Latham & Watkins	U.S.	39	105	144
14	18	Morgan Lewis & Bockius	U.S.	44	57	144
16	19	White & Case	U.S.	43	100	143
18	20	Reed Smith	U.S.	45	91	137
NEW	21	Withers	UK	55	67	134
27	22	Kirkland & Ellis	U.S.	43	71	133
24	23	Clyde & Co	UK	35	72	120
17	24	Sidley Austin	U.S.	32	24	117
37	25	Kennedys	UK	36	77	113
45	26	Pinsent Masons	UK	35	67	112
29	27	Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom	U.S.	18	81	110
25	28	Bird & Bird	UK	30	78	108
22	29	HFW	UK	36	58	107
23	30	K&L Gates	U.S.	54	32	106
31	31	Squire Patton Boggs	U.S.	17	45	101
26	32	Davis Polk & Wardwell	U.S.	13	71	100
30	33	Simmons & Simmons	UK	51	20	98
32	34	Shearman & Sterling	U.S.	23	55	87
35	35	CMS	UK/Germany	21	64	87
34	36	Paul Hastings	U.S.	23	63	86
33	37	Ropes & Gray	U.S.	21	52	85
46	38	Duane Morris & Selvam	U.S.	30	46	78
38	39	Berwin Leighton Paiser	UK	20	30	69
28	40	Watson Farley & Williams	UK	17	39	67
36	41	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	U.S.	13	54	67
39	42	O'Melveny & Myers	U.S.	27	18	65
41	43	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton	U.S.	8	44	58
40	44	Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe	U.S.	24	26	55
43	45	Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy	U.S.	26	20	51
44	46	Slaughter and May	UK	12	38	50
42	47	Ince & Co	UK	19	20	47
NEW	48	Gibson Dunn & Crutcher	U.S.	18	24	46
48	49	Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison	U.S.	7	33	42
NEW	50	King & Spalding	U.S.	15	20	39

Top 50 Domestic Law Firms

2017 Rank (Domestic)	2018 Rank (Domestic)	FIRM	Headquarters	Total Partners	Total Associates	Total Lawyers
1	1	Yingke Law Firm	China	2230	4354	6584
2	2	Dentons Dacheng	China	1611	4032	5729
3	3	Deheng Law Offices	China	597	1896	2521
4	4	AllBright Law Offices	China	574	1764	2338
7	5	Grandall Law Firm	China	612	1323	1935
8	6	Zhong Yin Law Firm	China	323	1373	1817
6	7	King & Wood Mallesons	China/Australia	329	1428	1731
9	8	Beijing DHH Law Firm	China	111	1182	1306
10	9	Zhonglun W&D Law Firm	China	576	727	1303
5	10	Zhong Lun Law Firm	China	414	797	1211
11	11	Long An Law Firm	China	161	908	1163
12	12	Kim & Chang	Korea	170	750	920
14	13	Beijing Jincheng Tongda & Neal Law Firm	China	288	593	905
50	14	Hylands Law Firm	China	263	610	902
15	15	Tahota Law Firm	China	260	610	885
16	16	Hiways Law Firm	China	119	560	780
24	17	Beijing TianTai Law Firm	China	245	450	744
20	18	Guangdong Guanghe Law Firm	China	212	505	726
13	19	JunHe	China	197	437	686
22	20	Guantao Law Firm	China	174	505	683
18	21	Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas	India	120	556	682
27	22	Sichuan Mingju Law Firm	China	75	507	657
17	23	Rajah & Tann	Singapore	223	433	656
19	24	Lee & Ko	Korea	197	450	647
21	25	Bae Kim & Lee	Korea	217	401	618
30	26	ETR Law Firm	China	143	431	600
23	27	Nishimura & Asahi	Japan	142	389	571
26	28	Fangda Partners	China	108	460	568
26	29	Khaitan & Co	India	123	425	558
NEW	30	Hui Ye Law Firm	China	112	424	536
28	31	Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas	India	109	409	518
34	32	Duan & Duan	China	134	375	513
43	33	King & Capital Law Firm	China	120	384	509
31	34	Mori Hamada & Matsumoto	Japan	135	359	496
32	35	Jointide Law Firm	China	150	331	481
29	36	Allen & Gledhill	Singapore	181	292	475
36	37	Anderson Mori & Tomotsune	Japan	142	271	467
35	38	Shin & Kim	Korea	182	231	444
37	39	Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu	Japan	112	267	438
NEW	40	China Commercial Law Firm	China	138	298	436
33	41	Yulchon	Korea	169	258	427
NEW	42	V&T Law Firm	China	108	304	412
39	43	AZB & Partners	India	94	316	410
38	44	Yoon & Yang	Korea	120	283	403
45	45	Zhongwen Law Firm	China	202	197	401
46	46	East & Concord Partners	China	100	300	400
44	47	JunZeJun Law Offices	China	96	302	399
48	48	TMI Associates	Japan	126	348	391
47	49	Tian Yuan Law Firm	China	98	283	382
41	50	WongPartnership	Singapore	121	256	377

Hong Kong International

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Mayer Brown	61	112	188
2	King & Wood Mallesons	33	146	184
3	Linklaters	32	120	168
4	Baker McKenzie	53	90	166
5	Clifford Chance	36	107	160
6	Reed Smith	30	56	104
7	Allen & Overy	26	56	99
8	Herbert Smith Freehills	18	56	99
9	Kirkland & Ellis	36	54	97
10	Stephenson Harwood	27	65	92
11	Sidley Austin	19	74	91
12	Eversheds Sutherland	22	68	90
13	Latham & Watkins	20	58	78
14	Ashurst	18	51	69
15	Hogan Lovells	14	33	68
16	Norton Rose Fulbright	18	36	68
17	Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer	20	40	66
18	Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom	11	47	65
19	Davis Polk & Wardwell	11	20	62
20	DLA Piper	27	13	56

Hong Kong Domestic

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Deacons	51	70	200
2	Li & Partners	10	93	103
3	Woo Kwan Lee & Lo	40	43	83
4	Howse Williams Bowers	25	56	81
5	P.C. Woo & Co.	24	56	80
6	Stevenson, Wong & Co.	12	35	58
7	ONC Lawyers	15	34	50
8	Wilkinson & Grist	25	24	49
9	Robertsons	17	22	42
10	Gallant Ho	13	17	40

Japan International

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Baker McKenzie	47	79	149
2	Morrison & Foerster	36	74	110
3	White & Case	13	30	49
4	Clifford Chance	9	28	45
5	Hogan Lovells	8	29	41
6	Herbert Smith Freehills	7	29	38
7	Jones Day	12	11	35
8	Squire Patton Boggs	6	18	35
9	Linklaters	6	26	34
10	Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer	4	17	26
11	Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe	10	13	26
12	DLA Piper	4	19	23
13	Allen & Overy	4	17	21
14	Ashurst	6	14	20
15	K&L Gates	8	4	16
16	Norton Rose Fulbright	6	10	18
17	Shearman & Sterling	4	8	15
18	Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom	3	6	12
19	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	3	8	11
20	Sidley Austin	2	7	11

Japan Domestic

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Nishimura & Asahi	127	355	517
2	Mori Hamada & Matsumoto	132	351	480
3	Anderson Mori & Tomotsune	135	265	442
4	Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu	103	259	402
5	TMI Associates	126	348	391
6	City-Yuwa Partners	49	75	144
7	Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners	49	66	141
8	Atsumi & Sakai	65	51	134
9	Nakamura & Partners	42	39	81
10	Kitahama Partners	34	35	79

South Korea

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Kim & Chang	170	750	920
2	Lee & Ko	195	439	634
3	Bae Kim & Lee	212	391	603
4	Shin & Kim	179	220	430
5	Yulchon	169	258	427
6	Yoon & Yang	120	283	403
7	Barun Law	104	98	202
8	Jipyong	54	68	202
9	DR & AJU	99	77	176
10	Hwang Mok Park	47	73	120

India

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas	120	556	682
2	Khaitan & Co	123	425	558
3	Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas	109	409	518
4	AZB & Partners	94	316	410
5	J. Sagar Associates	84	305	312
6	L&L Partners	75	218	301
7	Trilegal	44	246	297
8	Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan	94	158	252
9	Kochhar & Co	52	138	190
10	Desai & Diwanji	28	162	190
11	Fox Mandal & Co	36	120	156
12	M.V. Kini & Company	11	139	150
13	Link Legal India Law Services	29	120	149
14	DSK Legal	15	125	140
15	Wadia Ghandy & Co	36	98	134
16	Economic Laws Practice	49	74	123
17	Anand and Anand	28	84	112
18	HSA Advocates	36	76	110
19	Hammurabi & Solomon	15	65	80
20	Phoenix Legal	14	65	80
21	Vaish Associates	12	68	80
22	IndusLaw	24	54	78
23	Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe	11	65	76
24	Dhir & Dhir	10	65	75
25	Nishith Desai Associates	8	64	72
26	Khaitan & Khaitan	13	50	65
27	Bharucha & Partners	11	41	56
28	Majmudar & Partners	7	49	56
29	Krishnamurthy & Co	8	47	55
30	Clasis Law	13	35	48

Indonesia

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Assegaf Hamzah & Partners	23	112	136
2	Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo	8	107	115
3	Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro	19	87	106
4	Hanafiah Ponggawa & Partners (Dentons HPRP)	13	83	96
5	Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners	20	59	90
6	Soewito Suhardiman Eddymurthy Kardono	9	55	70
7	Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung	11	50	61
8	Mochtar Karuwin Komar	6	51	61
9	Makarim & Taira S.	11	41	52
10	Soemadipradja & Taher	8	38	50

Malaysia

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	ZICO Law	57	102	163
2	Skrine	47	67	118
3	Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill	36	80	118
4	Shearn Delamore	49	58	107
5	Adnan Sundra & Low	26	68	97
6	Zul Rafique & Partners	33	59	95
7	Azmi & Associates	17	50	84
8	Wong & Partners	13	60	79
9	Rahmat Lim & Partners	25	49	74
10	Raja, Darryl & Loh	22	42	64

Philippines

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	ACCRALAW	44	107	164
2	SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan	41	86	134
3	Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura	45	63	111
4	Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia	20	48	68
5	Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos	31	28	60
6	Quisumbing Torres	19	37	56
7	Puno & Puno Law Offices	13	41	54
8	Villaraza & Angangco	13	38	51
9	Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako	26	24	50
10	Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose	22	26	50

Singapore*

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Allen & Gledhill	154	232	388
2	Rajah & Tann	136	182	318
3	Drew & Napier	69	104	250
4	Dentons (Singapore)	86	98	204
5	Baker Mckenzie Wong & Leow	29	77	124
6	Clifford Chance	23	72	108
7	Shook Lin & Bok	35	66	101
8	Eversheds Harry Elias	22	75	97
9	Withers KhattarWong	34	47	91
10	Norton Rose Fulbright	19	48	67
11	RHTLaw Taylor Wessing	24	28	66
12	Linklaters	10	47	65
13	Allen & Overy	15	46	64
14	Bird & Bird ATMD	14	39	53

*Note: WongPartnership did not submit its breakdown for Singapore. Our best estimate is that the firm would be in the top four, but we are unable to place it in this list as we don’t have the exact numbers.

Thailand

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Weerawong C&P	15	95	110
2	Tilleke & Gibbins	19	86	105
3	Baker Mckenzie	58	31	91
4	Chandler MHM	13	53	66
5	SCL Law Group (Siam City)	9	50	59
6	Rajah & Tann Thailand	13	39	52
7	DLA Piper	5	29	34
8	Allen & Overy	2	30	32
9	Watson Farley & Williams	6	22	28
10	Linklaters	4	18	24

Vietnam

2018 RANK	FIRM	Partners	Associates	Qualified Lawyers
1	Vision & Associates	13	63	76
2	LNT & Partners	9	45	73
3	Vilaf	10	60	70
4	YKVN	11	56	67
5	LuatViet Advocates & Solicitors	5	44	49
6	Baker McKenzie (Vietnam)	10	23	43
7	Tilleke & Gibbins	4	35	39
8	RHTLaw Taylor Wessing Vietnam	6	17	26
9	Phuoc & Partners	10	13	23
10	Rajah & Tann Vietnam	7	12	19

OUR RESEARCH

Firms were contacted in September 2018 and were asked to provide partner and lawyer numbers across their Asian offices as of Sept. 1, 2018.
‘Total No. of Lawyers’ refers to the total number of partners, associates, counsel, consultants and foreign counsel.
In the instance where a firm did not make a submission, figures were obtained through our own research. ALB takes no responsibility for the accuracy of these figures.
In the instance where two firms had the same number of total lawyers, the firm with the greater number of partners was ranked higher.

To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.