Three women lawyers who have gained reputations in their practice areas have advanced a few more rungs up the corporate ladder by making moves to other firms. Being in the right location, connected and daring to move seem to be the recipe for success.

In terms of location, Clifford Chance's first corporate social reponsibility report highlighted that 25.5% of Asian partners are female, compared to 6.3% in central and eastern Europe and about 17% in London and Dubai. Location seems to also be a big factor in offering up opportunities in light of the slowdown in the US and UK.

Fabiola Maria Suwanto, a private trust lawyer who has inner connections with the rich and powerful in Asia, has joined Bryan Cave as principal in the firm’s Shanghai office. Suwanto, an Indonesian Chinese who grew up in Singapore, is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and Indonesian. Her practice focuses on assisting expatriates in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand with their international estate planning, and estate and trust matters.

Her clients include high net worth US citizens or green card holders living abroad, US citizens married to foreign nationals, and Asian families and individuals with assets and beneficiaries in several jurisdictions, including the US. She was formerly with Perkins Coie’s Shanghai office.

“Many high net worth individuals and families turn to Suwanto as their trusted advisor,” said Evan Chuck, managing partner at Bryan Cave’s Shanghai office. “She speaks their language – literally and culturally – and that ability will enhance our services to our clients as well as our international estate planning capabilities in general.”

Dawn Zhang, a corporate & securities partner previously with Faegre & Ben, has upped the ante by joining Greenberg Traurig’s Shanghai office not just as a partner, but also a shareholder. She has extensive experience advising clients on China-related cross-border M&A, restructuring, joint ventures, venture capital and general corporate matters.

She has been involved in many high level deals, was the primary lawyer in China to assist a leading Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) multinational corporation in acquiring a target company’s notebook PC OEM business for US$200m.

Sometimes, getting there is more than sheer hard work. It is also about connections. Commercial litigation partner Elaine Chen has reunited with renowned Hong Kong litigator Brian Gilchrist at Clifford Chance. Chen and Gilchrist were part of a tag team in Mayer Brown JSM until Gilchrist hopped over to Clifford Chance in May 2008.

“She and Gilchrist have worked together for over 10 years, and have proved that they are a formidable team. Together, they will enable us to develop Clifford Chance’s Hong Kong corporate and tax litigation practice,” said Martin Rogers, Clifford Chance’s head of litigation and dispute resolution for Asia.

One standard criteria for achieving partnership in most law firms is a calculation of the amount of "billable hours" each partnership candidate has charged out. In the case of Suwanto, Chen and Zhang, it seems that their location in Asia, getting connected and being bold enough to make the move counts for a lot too.