Linklaters LLP Increases Hold on Asia with Australian Tie-up

April 23, 2012

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Global law firm Linklaters LLP /’ target=’_blank’>Linklaters LLP LLP entered into an agreement last week with Allens Arthur Robinson, a 190-year old law firm of Australia. The new firm which would operate independently would conduct business under the name Allens Linklaters in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. In a separate venture, Linklaters has tied with AAR and an Indonesian law firm, Widyawan & Partners to consolidate its foothold in Indonesia.

While Linklaters already had a very good presence in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Bangkok, joint ventures with Allens Arthur Robinson would open the markets of Mongolia, Vietnam and Indonesia, and consolidate practice in Australia and China.

Under the deal, Linklaters, which is the 4^th top revenue-earner among global law firms would give Allens exclusive access to its Australian work and stop referring work to other law firms in the areas covered by Allens Linklaters.

The merger marks the first real integration of a ‘Magic Circle’ law firm with Australian practice.

Robert Elliott, senior partner of Linklaters said that the two firms are expected to complement each other very well. With the AAR merger Linklaters increases its workforce in Asia by almost 800 seasoned lawyers. Remarking on the fact of the firms matching each other, Elliott said, “We have a similar client base, complementary practice areas, cultural synergy, a leading depth and breadth of expertise, and strength of brand in our respective markets… by combining our resources and aligning our supporting processes we will be able to enhance and expand what we can do for our clients.”

Michael Rose, the managing partner of Allens said “The energy and resources and infrastructure teams will operate on as ‘as-merged’ basis – they will operate together to identify opportunities to maintain client relationships and field teams across the region.”

While the Australian firm has 923 legal staff and 180 partners, Linklaters has 466 partners and more than 1700 legal staff. The firms already have close to 80 common clients.

The alliance was voted on Friday and passed unanimously in both firms. Linklaters’ move comes close on the heels of Mallesons Stephen Jaques announcing its alliance with King & Wood of China.