While many international lawyers like to assume the streets of Asia are paved with gold, everyone working in the continent’s legal industry knows this is largely a fantasy.
Recent years have proved tough for international firms, owing to a mix of fee pressure, intense competition and high real estate costs, as well as a host of practice restrictions across jurisdictions. In some cases, firms’ offices function less as profit centres in their own right and more as meeting rooms and sites for boosting cross-border dealflow.
