It’s been a year since a groundbreaking merger between China’s King & Wood and Australia’s Mallesons Stephen Jaques produced a new giant with nearly 1,600 lawyers and revenues of almost $800 million. Since then, there has been plenty of speculation, in the media and at law firms, about the combined firm’s next move. Some press reports have identified Rochester-based Nixon Peabody and London’s SJ Berwin as potential merger partners.
But King & Wood Mallesons is trying to get Asia right first. "We’ve made no secret of our strategy to be a global firm based in Asia," says Wang Junfeng, one of the founding partners of King & Wood and now chairman of the combined firm. "We’re focused on integration and maximizing our footprint in the world’s economic growth zone. Asia is our front- and backyard. We’re dominant in that space, and our strategy will keep us dominant." King & Wood Mallesons doesn’t want to be the umpteenth international law firm trying to land a spot on a City of London panel or competing to defend big shareholder suits in New York. Not when it sees an opportunity to become the leading law firm of the Asian Century.
