Robert here. Having arrived back in the US last night, I’m sitting up at 3 am now reflecting on the results of another outstanding visit to Hong Kong. Several of us were in town and able to meet with dozens of people while there, some of whom are candidates and some of whom are representatives of law firms and some private equity and hedge funds for whom we have conducted attorney searches in the past. Robert’s spent an extra couple of days working on some additional projects we have in place and will be leaving tomorrow. 
In a nutshell, and while this is not without some caveats, we believe that things are picking up strongly at this point in China. By the end of the year, while total number of international attorneys hired in Asia will not be as high as 2007 or even 2008, we expect to have had our best year in Asia yet on a revenue basis by a long shot. Just in the last few weeks we have confirmed eight attorneys placed in Greater China and we anticipate being able to confirm another five placements (touch wood) in the next several weeks. Now, here are some of the caveats:
1. Private equity funds, on the whole, are still seeing reduced deal flow. They report law firm interest in negotiated deals, including busted deal reductions, is significantly higher than in the past. Much of the deal work is restructuring related as they try to mop up the balance sheets of some struggling portfolio companies.
2. Some firms report that, while M&A work has been looking up overall, it’s been hurt recently by the relative surge in stock prices, which has made deals more expensive in many cases and caused some firms to temporarily shelve their plans.
3. The market is changing so that local qualification is becoming a plus factor for any candidate looking to work in Hong Kong.
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Asia |
Hong Kong
