The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t had the same negative impact on lawyer head counts in Asia-Pacific as it has in other regions of the world. In fact, the 2021 Asia 50, our ranking of the largest law firms by head count in Asia-Pacific, finds that this group underwent an incredible year of growth despite the unusual circumstances, expanding by 13.5% to 83,346 total attorneys.

The largest law firms in the region remain the usual suspects. Over the past year, the firms at the top of the list contributed some of the biggest increases from their 2019 numbers. Dentons and Yingke now have 11,337 and 10,626 lawyers, respectively. Yingke hired over 1,700 lawyers last year, more than five times the size of rival Dentons’ 2020 haul.