IBA Article Outlines How Much Money US Firms Pay Partners In Hong Kong
Only $6million for a three year package - penury !
The IBA reports ....
http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=a58a34aa-e3d4-4f3f-80fc-13cadea3d401
US law firms have spent big to attract elite Hong Kong talent, but with so many firms apparently obsessed with gaining eminence in the volatile IPO segment, recouping their investments will inevitably prove arduous.
In 1983, the tragic and mysterious death of John Wimbush signalled the end of one of Hong Kong’s infamous property booms. It also marked the peak of an era when Hong Kong’s local lawyers were among the wealthiest in the world. Some were earning in excess of HK$20 million (just under US$2 million) a year, this being almost 30 years ago.
Wimbush, the senior partner of Deacons, Hong Kong’s leading law firm, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool with a manhole tied to his neck. Wimbush had been caught up in one of Hong Kong’s deepest corporate scandals. The Carrian affair could rival the demise of BCCI or Enron for colour and intrigue.
Wimbush’s supposed suicide note was discovered, but after a detailed inquest into his death, the jury returned an open verdict. Almost 30 years on and still there is a whiff of murder. Wimbush was the principal legal adviser to Carrian, a company that in 1981 bought what is now the Bank of America building in Hong Kong’s Central district. It immediately announced the sale of the tower to two Hong Kong businessmen for a 100 per cent profit, a deal that was eventually discovered to be a complete fraud. When Hong Kong’s stock market collapsed in 1983, the full-extent of the scandal was laid bare.
Sovereign states get absolute immunity in Hong Kong
While Wimbush’s death came at a time when Hong Kong’s resident lawyers were earning millions, those huge remuneration packages appear to have returned thanks in part to a hiring spree by America’s elite law firms. Chicago’s Kirkland & Ellis is understood to have guaranteed a package of US$6 million for three years to at least two of its eight newly recruited Hong Kong partners.
In 2011, with Hong Kong’s capital market more effervescent than anywhere else in the world, ostentatious compensation packages have returned to the legal market.
Bartlett, Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk & Wardell have all launched Hong Kong law practices in the last two years, by recruiting the cream of the capital markets community. Not to be outdone, Chicago’s Kirkland & Ellis announced it was recruiting eight new Hong Kong-based partners in August this year.
