In May, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman’s Hong Kong office managed to become profitable. While this is the goal of any law firm active in Hong Kong, Pillsbury’s feat was remarkable because it occurred after the firm had been operating in Hong Kong for only one year. In a market that is notoriously tough, Pillsbury was able to beat all expectations by being different.
“The plan has always been being different. There is no point opening an office decades after everybody else and trying to compete in the exact same space,” said Paul Jebely, the Hong Kong managing partner of Pillsbury. “Our plan was to go very niche and go very different.”
