Last year, when China’s King & Wood merged with Australia’s Mallesons Stephen Jaques, the buzz surrounding the deal was palpable. Both law firms’ home markets had boomed while Europe and the United States remained mired in recession. The seemingly bottomless Chinese appetite for Australian natural resource wealth appeared to be a sturdy foundation on which to form the first international law firm based in the Asia Pacific region.
But last week, when King & Wood Mallesons announced that British firm SJ Berwin was joining the union, it was to a very different world. The Chinese economy has slowed significantly this year amid widespread concerns over the health of the country’s financial system. Lower demand in China has simultaneously brought Australia’s long mining boom to an end.
