Asian legal giant King & Wood Mallesons positioning itself for post-Brexit trade with China as it rebuilds in London
Asian legal giant King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is betting on post-Brexit trade with China and Australia as it rebuilds in London following the collapse of its European arm in January 2017.
The firm’s London managing partner Darren Roiser said: “Given the nature of our client base and the fact we want to be building more and more business with China and Australia and across Asia…We are well placed following Brexit to be well aligned when it comes to trade deals with China and increased co-operation across Asia.”
The firm has recently taken a floor of the Walkie Talkie in the City as it expands in London, having doubled its headcount in the last 20 months.
Roiser said that the centre of gravity of the world economy was moving to Asia and that the UK had not yet fully exploited potential trade with China.
“There are huge opportunities, at the moment we are probably punching well below, and lagging behind, when it comes to what we could be doing with China when you look at what other countries are doing,” he said.
“The centre of the world and the centre of growth has shifted massively. It is not the States, it is not even in the centre of the Atlantic, it is not in Europe. The real growth in the world has been happening and will continue to happen across Asia," Roiser said.
KWM’s European arm, what was once SJ Berwin, collapsed in January 2017 in what was the UK’s largest ever law firm insolvency.
Seven partners from the firm in London agreed to set up a new City office for KWM following the failure.
KWM is the fourth-largest law firm in Asia by lawyer headcount with more than 2,700 lawyers according to data from ALM.