Davis Polk Launches Hong Kong Litigation Practice With Clifford Chance Hires

Davis Polk & Wardwell has recruited two Clifford Chance partners to launch a Hong Kong litigation practice.

Martin Rogers, the former head of Clifford Chance's Asia Pacific disputes practice and co-head of its regional financial regulatory practice, and partner James Wadham are both set to join Davis Polk "in the near term," according to Thomas Reid, the New York-based firm's managing partner.

Reid says the move was driven by the demand of domestic and international clients facing a rising tide of enforcement actions in Asia. "We certainly have seen our clients asking for help in enforcement matters in Asia with increasing frequency," he says.

The move is the firm's second major expansion into Hong Kong practice in recent years. Though it opened its Hong Kong office in 1993, Davis Polk, like many Wall Street firms, only practiced U.S. law in the region until 2010, when it launched a Hong Kong capital markets practice. Since then, most of Davis Polk's major New York rivals, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Sullivan & Cromwell have launched similar practices.

But Hong Kong capital markets have been in a severe slowdown since the end of 2011, and Davis Polk's push into local litigation reflects a desire to create a more balanced practice in the region.

Several firms have deployed litigation partners from the U.S. and elsewhere to advise companies in Asia on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. But Davis Polk is also eyeing the more active financial regulatory stance that Hong Kong's Securities & Futures Commission has adopted under chief executive Ashley Alder, a former partner at the firm now known as Herbert Smith Freehills.

The SFC recently announced a new Companies Bill that would make auditors criminally liable if they knowingly or recklessly omit a required statement from an auditor's report. And Hong Kong's securities regulator announced last week that banks could be held criminally liable if the companies they sponsor in IPOs provide false information on their prospectuses. Rogers has already been working with Davis Polk Hong Kong partner Bonnie Chan in advising 23 investment banks in their interactions with the SFC, says Reid.

Qualified in England and Hong Kong, Rogers has been a partner at Clifford Chance since 2002, when he moved to that firm from the Hong Kong office of Herbert Smith, where he had worked for 14 years and had been named Asia managing partner just prior to leaving.

Wadham began his career in New Zealand, where he worked for Auckland's Russell McVeagh. He joined Clifford Chance in Hong Kong in 2002 and became a partner in 2007. Like Rogers, he focuses on advising clients in the financial services industry. He is admitted in New Zealand, Hong Kong and England.

In a statement, Clifford Chance said it continued to have a strong litigation and dispute resolution practice in the region, noting its announcement last week of a formal law alliance with Singapore litigation boutique Cavenagh Law.

"We have every confidence this will not affect our relationships with our institutional clients as Clifford Chance offers the highest quality advice and service across the broadest range of international law expertise available in the market," the firm said.

Davis Polk Launches Hong Kong Litigation Practice With Clifford Chance Hires

Davis Polk & Wardwell has recruited two Clifford Chance partners to launch a Hong Kong litigation practice.

Martin Rogers, the former head of Clifford Chance's Asia Pacific disputes practice and co-head of its regional financial regulatory practice, and partner James Wadham are both set to join Davis Polk "in the near term," according to Thomas Reid, the New York-based firm's managing partner.

Reid says the move was driven by the demand of domestic and international clients facing a rising tide of enforcement actions in Asia. "We certainly have seen our clients asking for help in enforcement matters in Asia with increasing frequency," he says.

The move is the firm's second major expansion into Hong Kong practice in recent years. Though it opened its Hong Kong office in 1993, Davis Polk, like many Wall Street firms, only practiced U.S. law in the region until 2010, when it launched a Hong Kong capital markets practice. Since then, most of Davis Polk's major New York rivals, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Sullivan & Cromwell have launched similar practices.

But Hong Kong capital markets have been in a severe slowdown since the end of 2011, and Davis Polk's push into local litigation reflects a desire to create a more balanced practice in the region.

Several firms have deployed litigation partners from the U.S. and elsewhere to advise companies in Asia on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. But Davis Polk is also eyeing the more active financial regulatory stance that Hong Kong's Securities & Futures Commission has adopted under chief executive Ashley Alder, a former partner at the firm now known as Herbert Smith Freehills.

The SFC recently announced a new Companies Bill that would make auditors criminally liable if they knowingly or recklessly omit a required statement from an auditor's report. And Hong Kong's securities regulator announced last week that banks could be held criminally liable if the companies they sponsor in IPOs provide false information on their prospectuses. Rogers has already been working with Davis Polk Hong Kong partner Bonnie Chan in advising 23 investment banks in their interactions with the SFC, says Reid.

Qualified in England and Hong Kong, Rogers has been a partner at Clifford Chance since 2002, when he moved to that firm from the Hong Kong office of Herbert Smith, where he had worked for 14 years and had been named Asia managing partner just prior to leaving.

Wadham began his career in New Zealand, where he worked for Auckland's Russell McVeagh. He joined Clifford Chance in Hong Kong in 2002 and became a partner in 2007. Like Rogers, he focuses on advising clients in the financial services industry. He is admitted in New Zealand, Hong Kong and England.

In a statement, Clifford Chance said it continued to have a strong litigation and dispute resolution practice in the region, noting its announcement last week of a formal law alliance with Singapore litigation boutique Cavenagh Law.

"We have every confidence this will not affect our relationships with our institutional clients as Clifford Chance offers the highest quality advice and service across the broadest range of international law expertise available in the market," the firm said.

Clifford Chance Launches Singapore Alliance

Singapore
Source: Getty Images

Clifford Chance has entered into a formal law alliance with newly established Singapore litigation boutique Cavenagh Law.

The U.K. Magic Circle firm says the alliance is intended to help its clients gain access to local litigation and dispute resolution counsel in the city-state. Clifford Chance holds a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice license, which allows it to practice Singapore law in corporate and commercial transactions but not to litigate in local courts.

Cavenagh Law was created in October for the purpose of entering into a formal alliance with Clifford Chance. The firm has three partners, two of whom -- managing partner Harpreet Singh and energy and infrastructure disputes specialist Paul Sandosham -- joined from WongPartnership, one of Singapore's largest firms and Clifford Chance's former partner in a joint law venture. The third is current Clifford Chance partner Nish Shetty, who heads the firm's Singapore international arbitration and disputes resolution practice.

According to Shetty, who joined Clifford Chance from WongPartnership in 2009, all three will be partners concurrently at both Cavenagh and Clifford Chance. Cavenagh takes its name from a Victorian-era pedestrian bridge that crosses the Singapore River near the financial district.

A firm spokeswoman says Singapore regulations permit the allied firms to market themselves under a common brand. For Clifford Chance and Cavenagh, that will be "Clifford Chance Asia."

"We can now offer our clients high quality advice and service across the broadest range of Singapore and international law expertise available in the market," says Geraint Hughes, Clifford Chance's Singapore managing partner, in a statement. "As transactions and, consequently, disputes become ever more cross-border, our clients increasingly need and want to access this expertise from one platform in Singapore."

Singh only joined WongPartnership earlier this year from another major Singapore firm, Drew & Napier, where he had also been a partner and practiced for 18 years. Singh, who was appointed a Singapore Senior Counsel, the local equivalent of a British Queen's Counsel, in 2007, has been active in many of the island nation's highest-profile criminal cases. He recently represented Howard Shaw, a member of one of Singapore's wealthiest families and one of 51 men accused in a major scandal of having sex with an underage prostitute. Shaw pleaded guilty and received a three-month sentence in July.

Sandosham is returning to Singapore to join Cavenagh after leading the Middle East expansion for WongPartnership for several years, mainly out of that firm's Abu Dhabi office.

Clifford Chance's predecessor firms have been operating in Singapore since 1981 and, according to its website, the firm now has more than 60 lawyers in its office there. The firm entered into a joint venture with WongPartnership in 2002 but the firms ended their relationship in November 2008, just before Clifford Chance became one of the first six firms to be granted QFLP status. This year, Singapore opened up more applications to international firms; approvals have not yet been announced.

Clifford Chance Accounts Reveal Management Team Pay Hike of 10 Percent

Clifford Chance's management committee received total remuneration of £19 million for the 2011-12 financial year, a 10 percent increase from the previous year's figure.

The figure is contained within the firm's latest limited liability partnership accounts, which show the 16-member board received a total of £17.3 million in 2010-11.

The report also reveals that the average partner headcount at the firm increased 3 percent to 568 in 2011-12, while the number of associates rose 5 percent to 2,325. Total staff costs increased by 5 percent from £537.3 million to £565.7 million.

Profit available for profit share among members rose to £382.5 million in 2011-12, up almost 13 percent from £339.5 million in 2010-11.

Audited revenue for 2011-12 rose 7 percent to £1.303 billion from £1.219 billion in the previous year, the same figure as reported by the firm earlier this year.

Geographically, the Asia-Pacific region saw the most significant growth, with a 28 percent increase on the previous financial year to account for 14 percent of global revenue. The firm's performance in the region was bolstered by its tie-ups with Australian boutiques Chang Pistilli & Simmons and Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe during 2011, as well as solid returns from its bases in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Capital net contributions made by partnership members also increased significantly over the year, up from £1.9 million in 2010-11 to £8.1 million in 2011-12. The firm attributed this in part to a larger number of partners promoted into the equity over the year as well as a substantial number of senior lateral hires made during the period.

The report also showed that the firm repaid a £2.2 million bank overdraft during the year, with cash at the bank and in hand now standing at £120 million, up from the 2010-11 figure of £66.8 million.

Separately, the accounts note that the closure of its defined benefit pension scheme came into effect from the end of the 2010-11 financial year, stating: "The scheme was closed to future accrual with effect from 30 April 2011, having been closed to members since 2005."

Clifford Chance Asks Singapore Associates to Take Sabbaticals

Singapore
Source: Getty Images

Clifford Chance has asked associates from its capital markets team in Singapore to take voluntary sabbaticals as the firm moves to cope with the dramatic slowdown in Asian securities work.

The Magic Circle law firm is understood to have met with staff this week to offer them a percentage of salary and benefits if they accept the offer of leave between now and early 2013. It is unknown how many staff will be affected by the cost-cutting measure, but sources close to the matter indicate that it will be less than 10.

Clifford Chance would not confirm the percentage of salary that associates would receive, but stressed that the firm was not making any redundancies or calling on lawyers in other teams or offices to take sabbaticals. No partners will be affected by the move.

"Capital markets is an important part of our practice in Southeast Asia and India," said Crawford Brickley, Clifford Chance practice area leader for capital markets in Asia Pacific.

"However, in common with any business, we always keep our resourcing under review to ensure that our capability is in line with client needs. We remain very busy in other practice areas and do not expect any further changes."

The City giant's stance reflects the current slowdown in Singapore and Hong Kong in equity capital markets (ECM), a key practice area that international firms have targeted in the region. The notoriously volatile market for initial public offerings has seen a number of floats delayed this year amid concerns about the global economy and signs that some economies in Asia are slowing their still-robust growth levels.

In May, luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds abandoned its $1 billion (£621 million) Hong Kong listing just two days before the deadline, shortly after copper producer China Nonferrous Mining Corp. and car dealer China Yongda Automobiles Services postponed their own IPOs.

Figures from Dealogic show that Hong Kong raised just $3 billion (£1.9 billion) in new listings between January and September this year compared with $23.8 billion (£14.7 billion) for the same period in 2011.

The sharp drop in ECM work is acknowledged by firms to have hit pricing, leaving some advisers to focus on expanding other practice areas. Notably, Clifford Chance this week announced that it was transferring its highly regarded restructuring chief Mark Hyde to Hong Kong to lead the firm's Asian finance practice.

Clifford Chance, which announced a redundancy consultation in March affecting 13 associates in its City finance and capital markets practices, said that it expected the Asian securities market to return to stronger levels of activity at the start of 2013.

Clifford Chance Asks Singapore Associates to Take Sabbaticals

Singapore
Source: Getty Images

Clifford Chance has asked associates from its capital markets team in Singapore to take voluntary sabbaticals as the firm moves to cope with the dramatic slowdown in Asian securities work.

The Magic Circle law firm is understood to have met with staff this week to offer them a percentage of salary and benefits if they accept the offer of leave between now and early 2013. It is unknown how many staff will be affected by the cost-cutting measure, but sources close to the matter indicate that it will be less than 10.

Clifford Chance would not confirm the percentage of salary that associates would receive, but stressed that the firm was not making any redundancies or calling on lawyers in other teams or offices to take sabbaticals. No partners will be affected by the move.

"Capital markets is an important part of our practice in Southeast Asia and India," said Crawford Brickley, Clifford Chance practice area leader for capital markets in Asia Pacific.

"However, in common with any business, we always keep our resourcing under review to ensure that our capability is in line with client needs. We remain very busy in other practice areas and do not expect any further changes."

The City giant's stance reflects the current slowdown in Singapore and Hong Kong in equity capital markets (ECM), a key practice area that international firms have targeted in the region. The notoriously volatile market for initial public offerings has seen a number of floats delayed this year amid concerns about the global economy and signs that some economies in Asia are slowing their still-robust growth levels.

In May, luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds abandoned its $1 billion (£621 million) Hong Kong listing just two days before the deadline, shortly after copper producer China Nonferrous Mining Corp. and car dealer China Yongda Automobiles Services postponed their own IPOs.

Figures from Dealogic show that Hong Kong raised just $3 billion (£1.9 billion) in new listings between January and September this year compared with $23.8 billion (£14.7 billion) for the same period in 2011.

The sharp drop in ECM work is acknowledged by firms to have hit pricing, leaving some advisers to focus on expanding other practice areas. Notably, Clifford Chance this week announced that it was transferring its highly regarded restructuring chief Mark Hyde to Hong Kong to lead the firm's Asian finance practice.

Clifford Chance, which announced a redundancy consultation in March affecting 13 associates in its City finance and capital markets practices, said that it expected the Asian securities market to return to stronger levels of activity at the start of 2013.