Baker & McKenzie law firm news

From a one-man show to one of the more reputable firms in Singapore; that’s the story of Tan Peng Chin LLC in a nutshell.

Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow

Clifford Chance, White & Case, Norton Rose, Mochtar Karuwin Komar, Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners, Wiriadinata & Saleh and Baker & McKenzie have advised on a US$1.2bn multi-sourced Shari’a compliant Islamic financing deal – the largest cross-border private sector Islamic financing into Indonesia to date.

Vinson & Elkin has joined the wave of international firms launching new offices in the Middle East as it opens an office in Riyadh, following similar announcements by Baker & McKenzie in May, Gates & Partners in April and McGrigors in March to set up offices in the region. These are in addition to Covington & Burlington’s Middle East dual office push in Riyadh and King Abdullah’s Economic City in January 2011.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has hired Linklaters’ counsel Howard Lam to join the firm as partner.

Revealing the winners at the 2011 ALB-Macquarie Bank Law Awards: which firms collected the honours this year?

Barrick swoops on Equinox, China zeroes in on Australia

In a growing trend of sophisticated transactions involving Vietnamese corporations, Freshfields and Baker & McKenzie have advised on TH Milk’s acquisition of a sugar refinery owned by UK-based food producer Tate & Lyle.

Despite the current social and political commotion in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, Baker & McKenzie has launch an office in Doha, Qatar – the capital that registered the highest GDP growth globally in 2010.

DFDL Mekong has hired Rashane Leerabandhu, the Thai head of Herbert Smith’s corporate & commercial practice to join its Bangkok office as a partner.

Baker & McKenzie, Conyers Dill & Pearman, Walkers, Hogan Lovells, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and Thorp Alberga have all played a role in advising on the joint acquisition of Tongjitang Chinese Medical Company in a transaction that “opens the door for Cayman-incorporated companies that may be seeking a more flexible procedure for US delisting and going private.”

Following an exhaustive research process involving a record number of submissions from law firms and in-house legal departments this year, ALB is proud to announce the finalists for the ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2011, the most important event on SE Asia's legal calendar.

US law firms have made a clean sweep of the 2011 ALB China Employer of Choice Awards, taking out all five positions in the international firm category for mainland China.

Workplace initiatives encouraging staff fitness have been prevalent in Western firms for some time. But as the 2011 ALB Employer of Choice survey reveals, law firms operating in Asia see exercise as an increasingly important plank in their work/life balance strategies.

The Tokyo office of Simmons & Simmons has laterally hired Hogan Lovells projects lawyer Simon Barrett to join the firm as a partner with immediate effect.

Two major deals involving Australian companies have fallen over or hit hurdles in the past week, but lawyers remain unperturbed.

Clashes between police and anti-government protestors intensified this week as 1000 GCC troops entered Bahrain on Tuesday 15 March. A ‘state of emergency’ declaration by the Kingdom of Bahrain prompted lawyers and staff from international firms to evacuate Manama; as they await the all-clear signal to be issued from the British Foreign Office.

Jeffrey Sun Jie, formerly Shanghai-based counsel with Latham & Watkins, has joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Orrick) as a partner in the China corporate group.

前瑞生顾问孙捷律师(Jeffrey)加盟奥睿，担任其中国业务部合伙人。孙捷将常驻奥睿上海办事处。

The rivalry heats up amongst Tokyo-based international firms at the night of nights for Japan’s legal fraternity – the ALB Japan Law Awards 2011.