Rocky Lee
Several of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s former Asia team are starting the new year with new jobs after the US firm closed its offices in Beijing and Hong Kong in December, laying off 25 lawyers.
Rocky Lee, Cadwalader’s former Asia managing partner and a private equity specialist, sent an email to clients on New Year’s Eve saying that he would be joining King & Wood Mallesons on January 1 as head of its US corporate practice, splitting his time between Beijing and Silicon Valley. The move includes his entire team of lawyers and staff.
In Hong Kong, corporate partner Jane Ng has joined Stephenson Harwood while capital markets partner Stephen Chan has moved to Dechert, along with his team of three associates.
Both Ng and Chan had joined Cadwalader in 2015 as part of a mass defection from Latham & Watkins that also included then Hong Kong managing partner Michael Liu, whose plans are not yet known.
Having officially opened the Hong Kong office in 2010, Cadwalader made its first significant investment in 2012 when it poached three partners from Jones Day: Jeffrey Maddox, Joseph Lee and David Neuville. Maddox has now returned to Jones Day.
Cadwalader’s retreat reflects the challenge China poses for overseas law firms, many of which have built practices in Beijing, Hong Kong or Shanghai based on growth projections that have failed to materialise thanks to increasing competition and a slowing economy.
“It was a very difficult decision,” wrote Cadwalader managing partner Patrick Quinn in a note to staff announcing the closures in September. “We have very capable attorneys and staff in these offices — great lawyers and great people. However, by refocusing the firm’s resources and investments on practices that are most closely aligned with our strategy, we can grow sustainably and with a higher degree of predictable success.”
For many US firms, the view that China was too big to ignore has given way to the reality that the fee pool is just too small to justify continued investment in a practice that is not in the top tier.
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson closed its Hong Kong and Shanghai offices in 2015, closely followed by Chadbourne & Parke’s closure of its Beijing office. Since then, investment banks have laid off thousands of staff in Hong Kong alone, which has led some in the market to conclude that Cadwalader is unlikely to be the last US law firm to leave the region.
