King & Wood Mallesons is breaking up after the Chinese and Australian partnerships decided to pull the plug on their 14-year marriage that started back when everybody thought merging across continents was genius. The Australian side will rebrand as Mallesons and operate independently, while the China operation keeps the King & Wood name, and Hong Kong stays with the Chinese crew. Staff got the memo about terminating cooperation from Australia chair David Friedlander and chief executive partner Renae Latty.
The Verein structure they have been running gets dissolved at the end of March next year, but both sides will keep working together on a non-exclusive basis for client stuff. Offices in Japan and the US stick with the Chinese firm after their European operations already got handed off to Eversheds Sutherland following the total implosion of their London arm.
This whole split fits with how a bunch of Western law firms have been backing out of China as regulations tighten up and the economy slows down, with American and British outfits cutting headcount by 25 percent over recent years. Dentons is already divorced from Dacheng Law Offices, and firms like Skadden and Paul Weiss closed mainland offices while some Hong Kong partnerships got axed.
The Verein structure they have been running gets dissolved at the end of March next year, but both sides will keep working together on a non-exclusive basis for client stuff. Offices in Japan and the US stick with the Chinese firm after their European operations already got handed off to Eversheds Sutherland following the total implosion of their London arm.
This whole split fits with how a bunch of Western law firms have been backing out of China as regulations tighten up and the economy slows down, with American and British outfits cutting headcount by 25 percent over recent years. Dentons is already divorced from Dacheng Law Offices, and firms like Skadden and Paul Weiss closed mainland offices while some Hong Kong partnerships got axed.
