Tag: Asia Pacific legal market
Indonesia to be Asia’s next digital powerhouse: Implications for legal services
According to the recently released e-conomy SEA 2016 report conducted jointly by Google and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, Indonesia’s internet economy is growing at 26% annually. And it “will be worth about US$81 billion in 10 years, or about 40% of the total Internet […]
CONSULEGIS conference: “Doing Business in Asia”, set for Shanghai Oct 20-23, 2016
International law firms network Consulegis will host their next autumn conference in Shanghai, China from October 20th -23rd 2016. The main topic of the CONSULEGIS conference is “Doing Business in Asia”. What better place to host the next conference than China’s fastest growing city? The meetings, […]
Janders Dean to stage unique #LegalServiceDesign Jam in Sydney on 27/28 July
Janders Dean will be running a #LegalServiceDesign Jam in parallel to the Janders Dean Legal Transformation Conference in Sydney this coming Wednesday and Thursday, July 27 and 28. First conducted in London last May, LegalServicesDesign Jam adds a new dimension to the Legal Transformation Conference by, […]
Colombia-Korea Free-Trade Agreement provides opportunity for lawyers
Lawyers in both South Korea and Colombia could be significant beneficiaries of a just-ratified free-trade agreement between the two nations. As the Korea Herald detailed today: “Over the next 10 years, the two sides will knock down tariffs on over 96 percent of goods and roughly […]
What are the prospects for legal startups in Japan? An interview with Tim Romero, author of DisruptingJapan.com
Tim Romero is a Tokyo-based innovator, author, and entrepreneur. He’s started several companies since coming to Japan more than 20 years ago — and he’s deeply involved in Japan’s startup community as an investor, founder and mentor. He is the author of the widely-read blog DisruptingJapan.com […]
India Declared A Top Destination for FDI
The Government’s efforts to make India a top destination for foreign investment received yet another boost when one of the world’s leading observer of global FDI gave it the top honours. The Government continued to open up more avenues for foreign investment. There are some fresh […]
Residency Status for Foreign Investors and Further Liberalisation of FDI in India
India’s commitment to foreign investment was further fortified in the annual finance budget of the Government of India. The slew of announcements made by the Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley in the Lower House of the Parliament of India is expected to be instrumental in making […]
Australian legal startup Bulletpoints disrupts legal education by centralising CPD in one online portal
The Asia-Pacific region legal startup ecosystem is rich with examples of entrepreneurial zeal applied to the legal services sector — with a number based in Australia — including LawPath, LegalVision and Crowd & Co. That ecosystem also includes Bulletpoints — an online service for legal professionals to […]
Australian legal startup Crowd & Co is creating an online market for corporate legal services
Australia-based legal startup Crowd & Co, launched on 30 November 2015, is aiming to help corporations and lawyers alike efficiently source help on transactions via a proprietary online matchmaking platform. Inspired by the engineering sector Similar to American middle-market focused deal sourcing platform Axial, Crowd & […]
Asia-Pacific Region legal startups: An interview with Cherilyn Tan, CEO of AsiaLawNetwork.com
The Asia-Pacific Region holds an ideal mix of opportunity and innovation for legal services providers. In 2016, the Asia-Pacific legal market is now home to a growing number of legal startups and the entrepreneurs leading them, including Dragon Law, LawPath, LegalVision, Conventus Law and AsiaLawNetwork.com. The region is also […]
Beijing set to power Asian infrastructure deals
“The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the first multilateral financial institution launched by China…open[ed] for business on Jan. 16, as the Asia Times reported. The AIIB’s mandate will be to fund [infrastructure] development both inside and outside of Asia. “From 2010 to 2020, Asian countries will […]
Who were the top 20 law firms in Asian M&A in 2015?
MergerMarket have just released their Q4 2015 Global Legal Advisor Trend Report, which details how “Asia-Pacific (excl. Japan) M&A activity reached a peak [in 2015]. The reported details 3,797 deals worth US$ 927.8bn, the third consecutive annual increase by value, overtaking all yearly values on record. Too, […]
Demand for legal services continues to globalize
The demand for legal services is continuing to globalize, according to a recent report published by Managing Partner Forum and coauthored by Citi Private Bank and Hildebrandt Consulting. “The more global nature of legal work has particularly aided Am Law 50 firms”, the report concludes, “even […]
30 people to watch in the business of law in Asia in 2016
In 2015, the Asia-Pacific legal markets saw a deepening of competition among a larger number and form of legal services provider. From global law firms utilizing mergers to international law firms seeking to emulate market gains by NewLaw firms – to the increasing ascendance of legal […]
Some BigLaw firms in Asia are rushing to emulate NewLaw
Some BigLaw firms in Asia are rushing to emulate NewLaw, according to a recent article by John Knox, Managing Director, Asia of leading NewLaw firm AdventBalance. In recent months, as Knox outlines, “a growing number of traditional law firms including Eversheds (Agile) and Allen & Overy (Peerpoint) are establishing operating […]
Australian law firm LegalVision is generating 20 new customer leads per day from their blog
Australian online law firm LegalVision is generating 20 new customer leads per day from their inbound content strategy, according to their CEO and Founder Lachlan McKnight. McKnight outlined the firm’s strategy in an interview this week with the Australasian Law Practice Management Association (ALPMA). The interview was […]
Legal Innovation takes center-stage in Asia-Pacific
The months of July and August have seen a flurry of conferences and news coverage dedicated to legal innovation in the Asia-Pacific legal markets. And this trend will continue into September. Here’s a list of what’s happened so far and what’s coming next: On July 30th, […]
How Axiom is transforming the business of law in Asia
In September of 2013, Eric Chin of Australia’s Beaton Capital explained why by 2018 — Axiom may become the world’s largest legal services firm. Founded in 2000, Axiom is among a new breed of private equity-backed alternative providers of legal services commonly referred to as “NewLaw”. These “NewLaw” firms […]
Facilitating China-Canada cross-border investment: A Q&A with Stephen D. Wortley of McMillan
Think Asia, Thing Hong Kong, a conference focused on facilitating trade and investment with China via Hong Kong, took place in Toronto June 8. Key among the participants was Stephen D. Wortley, Chair, Hong Kong Office and Co-Chair, China Practice Group at McMillan LLP. In conjunction […]
The Current State of the Malaysian Legal Market: A Q&A with Eddie Law, Founder of eLawyer.com.my
The Malaysian legal market is currently undergoing structural reform while competition is increasing. Here’s an update on the market in the second quarter of 2015 from Eddie Law, Founder of eLawyer.com.my: How would you describe the overall current state of the Malaysian legal market? In general, […]
With Focus on Ease of Doing Business in India, Modi Government Ushers in its First Anniversary
The Narendra Modi led Government, which completes its first anniversary this month, continued its focus on simplifying procedures for ease of doing business in India. The annual updation to the consolidated foreign direct investment policy was published this month. The controversial MAT levy is being relooked […]
Japan to outspend China on Asia infrastructure
Japan announced this week that it will lend around US$ 110 billion to help fund infrastructure development in Asia over the next five years via the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Asian Development Bank. The announcement by Japan comes amid […]
For foreign law firms expanding in Asia – Hong Kong or Singapore?
For foreign law firms eyeing the possibility of expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, a fundamental question is often: Should we open in Singapore or Hong? The two cities are key financial centers in the region and often serve as regional headquarters for foreign law firms here. […]
Will US law firms lose work in Asia due to Washington’s opposition to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)?
Some Background The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a new multilateral development lender, whose focus will be on providing financing for infrastructure projects in Asia. Founded by China, the AIIB has been joined as founding members by most regional governments as well as the UK and […]
India: Retrospective Tax on Foreign Investment a Step Backward
In the past month the Indian Government took action towards facilitating foreign investment as was promised in the annual Union budget. However, all the beneficial steps were overshadowed by the controversial levy of Minimum Alternate Tax on capital gains by Foreign Institutional Investors. There were welcome […]
Why NewLaw should seek to define itself in Asia
In April of 2013, Richard Granat (@rgranat) asked: Is Axiom Law a Law Firm? in a blogpost which appeared on his widely-read eLawering Blog. And Granat is well qualified to both ask and answer the question. Granat is both a virtual lawyer and a CEO and investor […]
China’s Second Free Trade Zone to Open Next Week
China’s Second Free Trade Zone will Open Next Week. Below is the text of an interview with Paul Kossof, an Associate at the Beijing office of TransAsia Lawyers, about this new development. John Grimley: There has been substantial interest from foreign investors and companies in Shanghai’s free […]
Legal Leaders Asia Forum: A preview Q&A with Nick Seddon of Beaton Capital
The 2nd Legal Leaders Asia Forum is set to take place March 24-25, 2015 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong. The event will provide an opportunity for both international and independent law firms already established in Asia or with an eye towards the path to […]
Asia’s Legal Leaders to gather in Hong Kong, March 24-25, 2015
The 2nd Legal Leaders Asia Forum is set to take place March 24-25, 2015 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong. The event will provide an opportunity for both international and independent law firms already established in Asia or with an eye towards the path to […]
For international law firms, China alone does not make an Asia Strategy
On February 8, Asia Law Portal’s Twitter feed (@AsiaLawPortal) (managed by this author) – tweeted an announcement from international law firm Norton Rose (@NLegal_Global), that they’d added an Asia section to their Financial Services Regulation Blog. Richard Smith (RWS_01), Australia-based legal business development professional, responded to […]
A Q&A with the American Bar Association (ABA) leadership on the upcoming 2015 ABA Asia Forum in Tokyo
The International Law Section of the American Bar Association (@ABAInternatl) will gather March 2-3, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan for the 2015 Asia Forum. The conference will focus on Recent Trends and Developments in the Regulatory Environment, Transactional Practice and Dispute Resolution. As a follow-up to that original […]
Hong Kong legal market at epicenter of booming investment into China
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into China will double over the next six years, according to a new report from international law firm King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) (@kwmlaw). As the report outlines, foreign direct investment in China will reach 1.3 Trillion GBP by 2020. And as […]
Asia’s social media-savvy law firms are here
Enrique Dans (@edans) Professor of Information Systems at IE Business School in Madrid (@IEbusiness), has written a fascinating article published in Forbes last week, entitled: The Social Company is Already with Us. In that article, Dans explains how the workplace of today is evolving rapidly into less […]
5 Trends to watch in the Asian legal market in 2015
5 key trends appear to be shaping the Asia-Pacific Region’s legal markets in 2015 and are worth paying close attention to as the year progresses. Here they are: Increased M&A Activity — In an interview this week, Herbert Smith Freehills (@HSFlegal) Partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage discussed the strength of […]
Where are Asia’s Legal Startups?
The question posed by the title to this post came from a blogpost of last January by Jeffrey Ling (@lingdecklee), a Taipei-based Lawyer and Startup Evengelist. In that post, Ling outlined: “Ever since I embarked on my very own legal web startup project in June 2012, I started […]
Hong Kong Legal Startups: A Q&A with Chris Sykes, Client Services Director, Dragon Law
As Iris Leung (@irismtleung), Editor at StartupsHK and Contributor at Forbes Asia wrote just last week: “The limelight has long been shed on Hong Kong as a startup-friendly destination. Besides efficient business setup, a robust legal system, easygoing regulatory environment and a simple tax system – one of […]
12 law blogs in Asia to follow in 2015
As a follow-on to a post I published last October entitled: 10 law blogs in the Asia-Pacific Region worth following — below I’ve compiled a new list of even more Asia-Pacific Region law blogs that are all in their own unique ways interesting and informative — […]
30 people to watch in the business of law in Asia in 2015
As 2015 begins – below is a list of 30 key people to watch for commentary and new initiatives in the business of law in the Asia-Pacific legal markets during the course of the coming year: Chris Devonshire-Ellis (@cde_asia) — Founder of Dezan Shira & Associates (@DezanShira) and […]
Asia-Pacific remains Australia’s largest regional export market
The growing importance of the Asia-Pacific Region for international law firms has been confirmed again in a new study by the Law Council of Australia. The study — entitled Fourth Legal and Related Services Export Survey‘ — and its’ results — were reported by Australia-based legal business development […]
Can the Big4 accounting firms defeat BigLaw in Asia?
Much has been written recently about the entry of the Big4 accounting firms into the Asia-Pacific Legal Markets. The most recent move of note was PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) beginning to offer legal advice in Tokyo beginning last November. Australia’s Beaton Capital traces the history of large accounting firms presence in […]