过去6个月中，香港法律服务市场变化不断，其中最受瞩目的“元素”之一，便是国际法律服务机构在香港市场的逐步退出，而“四大”网络法律机构的变化更是引发诸多讨论。
去年12月，先是安永宣布关闭其全球网络在香港的成员律所——林朱律师事务所、管理合伙人朱静文律师随后加盟本地所杨杨律师事务所；今年4月，毕马威也随后关闭了其在香港的法律服务机构——符莎莉律师事务所，该所创始人、管理合伙人符莎莉律师携团队加入了英国思雅仕律师行。
变局之下，市场不免对德勤、普华永道的香港网络律所的前途产生猜测。
德勤位于香港的联盟成员是勤信律师事务所，目前共有 16名法律专业人员，包括4位合伙人。
普华永道位于香港的网络律所则是程伟宾律师事务所，目前共有大约20名法律专业人员，包括8位合伙人。
仍在扩张之中
面对香港法律服务市场变化带来的考验，勤信律师事务所主管合伙人陈于财律师告诉ALB，勤信凭借自身特质，表现出了较强的应变能力与韧性，未来计划进一步拓展香港法律市场。
究其根本，陈律师认为在于勤信所坚持的“发展法律业务产品”战略，并与德勤核心业务部门紧密合作，通过综合性团队，为客户提供一站式业务解决方案。
他举了个例子：“德勤有个‘勤业众信’（Deloitte Private）跨业务部门团队，专注于在一个平台上为家族办公室客户提供税务筹划、法律和其他专业服务，这样客户就不需要为寻找不同的供应商。这就是德勤称的‘跨部门服务模式’（Multi-Disciplinary Model），能给客户带来增值，因此极具吸引力。”
这样的服务模式特别适合某些特定类型的业务，例如德勤向来着重拓展的并购业务——客户可以通过一家供应商，满足复杂交易所需要的全流程、各领域专业服务。
程伟宾律师事务所管理合伙人Michelle Taylor则指出了自身作为“四大”网络律所，在全球网络覆盖层面存在的综合性优势。她说，程伟宾律师事务所的核心优势之一就是其团队由资深跨境律师组成，在香港、澳大利亚、英国和其他司法管辖区都拥有丰富的执业经验。多元化的服务使得程伟宾律师事务所能够抵御市场的低迷现状，继续为客户提供全方位的法律服务。
“利用普华永道包括税务、咨询、担保、法律等在内的广泛、专业的服务网络，程伟宾律师事务所能够为客户提供全面、多领域的一站式服务，产出普通律师事务所难以达到的高标准服务。”Taylor表示。
技术提供驱动
此外，“四大”网络法律机构也在拥抱技术发展，这为其未来发展提供了极强的AI驱动力。
近期，程伟宾律师事务所正式启动使用Harvey AI——这是基于OpenAI的GPT模型所开发的、专注于法律领域的大语言模型。
“这是我们数字化转型的里程碑，技术创新正在帮助我们精简业务、提高律师技能，并不断改善法律服务质量”。Taylor表示。
程伟宾律师事务所从去年中旬开始探索Harvey AI在日常法律工作中的应用，不断尝试将普遍性的自然语言处理、机器学习、大数据分析等功能和常见的法律工作流程融为一体。“目前，我们的律师在一些流程导向型、重复性任务上大大提高了工作效率，这使他们能够专注于更高价值的工作，提供更以客户为中心、更具吸引力的服务。”Taylor表示。
另一方面，结合使用人工智能工具的一手经验，程伟宾律师事务所也发现自己能够在客户落地前沿技术的过程中提供更有效的建议，并帮助他们做好针对新技术的合规流程管理。
与此同时，发展法律科技业务，也是德勤的战略目标之一。陈于财律师介绍道：“我们的法律科技业务，能够为具备创新思维的企业总法律顾问提供法律与科技相结合的解决方案，如‘法律管理服务和法律管理咨询’（Legal Managed Services & Legal Management Consulting），帮助法务团队提升工作效率，产出更好的工作成果。”
另外，德勤预计在不久后宣布新的业务产品，以展示其在香港发展法律业务的决心与承诺。
“在人才层面，随着大型国际所——尤其是美国所缩减规模，甚至退出香港或中国内地市场，我们反而看到了更多强劲且有趣的招聘机会。”陈律师说。
After EY and KPMG Law exited HK, how are Deloitte and PwC faring?
Over the past six months, the Hong Kong legal services market has seen constant changes, with one of the most closely watched developments being the gradual exit of international law firms from the market. Among which, the changes within the “Big Four” network law firms have sparked much discussion.
In December last year, EY announced the closure of its global network's member firm in Hong Kong, LC Lawyers, and managing partner Rossana Chu subsequently joined local firm Yang & Yang Solicitors. In April this year, KPMG followed suit by closing its legal services firm, SF Lawyers, in Hong Kong, with founder and managing partner Shirley Fu and her team joining UK firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
Amidst these changes, the market cannot help but speculate about the future of Deloitte and PwC's Hong Kong network law firms. Deloitte's alliance member firm in Hong Kong is Chan & Jamison, currently with 16 legal professionals, including 4 partners. Meanwhile, PwC's network law firm in Hong Kong is Tiang & Partners, currently with about 20 legal professionals, including 8 partners.
CONTINUING EXPANSION
Facing the challenges brought by changes in Hong Kong's legal services market, Chan & Jamison's managing partner Venantius Tan tells ALB that the firm has demonstrated strong adaptability and resilience thanks to its own qualities and plans to further expand in Hong Kong's legal market.
“From the onset, our strategy was to develop our practice offerings to align closely with our core Deloitte business units and work together as an integrated team to offer ‘one-stop business solutions’ to our clients,” says Tan.
He gives an example: “Deloitte has a cross-business unit team called Deloitte Private which focuses on family offices, and we offer tax planning, legal, and other professional services on a single platform to family office clients so they don't need to go to different service providers for each such service. We call this our Multi-Disciplinary Model (MDM) service offering which is also highly attractive for our MNC clients who understand the value-add in having one service provider who can provide professional services among a broad range of industries and expertise.”
Such a service model is particularly suitable for certain types of businesses, such as the M&A business that Deloitte has traditionally focused on developing – clients can satisfy the need for full-process, multi-disciplinary professional services required for complex transactions through a single supplier.
Michelle Taylor, the managing partner of Tiang & Partners, also points out the comprehensive global network coverage advantages of being a “Big Four” network law firm.
“One of the core strengths of Tiang & Partners is that our team is composed of well-trained cross-border lawyers with experience practicing in Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions. The diversification of services that we provide allows us to withstand market downturns and continue to provide a full range of legal services to our clients,” says Taylor.
Besides, she notes that by drawing on the broader network of PwC's professional services, which includes tax, advisory, assurance as well as other legal services in different territories, Tiang & Partners is able to offer a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to client service, providing a one-stop-shop for clients and creating a value proposition that is difficult for standalone legal practices to match.
TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN
Moreover, the “Big Four” network law firms have demonstrated considerable strength in embracing technological development, especially AI tools, providing a strong driving force for their future growth.
Recently, Tiang & Partners officially launched the use of Harvey AI—a large language model focused on the legal domain developed based on OpenAI's GPT model.
"The launch of Harvey AI is another milestone in our digital transformation. Embracing technological innovation gives us a further advantage in streamlining operations, upskilling our lawyers, and constantly improving the quality of our legal services,” says Taylor.
Since mid-last year, Tiang & Partners has been exploring the application of Harvey AI in daily legal work, continuously attempting to integrate general natural language processing, machine learning, and big data analytics into legal workflows.
“On the one hand, by benefiting from Harvey’s leading large language model focused on the legal sector, our lawyers significantly improve their work efficiency - especially on some process-oriented and repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value work and provide more client-centric, engaging services,” Taylor states.
On the other hand, “combining our years of legal expertise with the experience in using legal AI technology, we are well placed to advise our clients on how to adopt the cutting-edge technology with the right governance processes and in compliance with laws and regulations.”
At the same time, developing legal technology practices is one of Deloitte's strategic goals as well.
“We also have a strong LegalTech practice that is able to offer a hybrid legal/technology solution such as Legal Managed Services & Legal Management Consulting services to GCs who see the value of technology to enable their in-house legal team to deliver better results and higher efficiency within their own organization,” Tan points out.
Additionally, Deloitte expects to announce new practice offerings soon to demonstrate its commitment to developing the Deloitte legal practice in Hong Kong.
Speaking of talent strategy, Tan observes that “in the current market, we see strong and interesting hiring opportunities as some major international firms, in particular the US firms, downsize and pull out from the HK/China market.”
