There’ve been few hotter markets for expansion by international law firms in recent years. But don’t expect the Am Law 100‘s most profitable litigation firm to launch a Hong Kong office anytime soon.
“We looked into it,” says John Quinn, managing partner of Los Angeles-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, who checked out the Hong Kong market himself earlier this year. “There were a lot of things that, from a distance, looked attractive to us. But I really have the impression that it’s a market that’s beyond competitive with a lot of pressure on billing rates and the revenues and incomes of lawyers impacted accordingly. For us, it was hard for it not to be dilutive.”
