Roll On Friday Publish Their 2011 Asia Legal Market Review
Here's what they say and where you can find it
The Asia Pacific Review of the Year 2011
16 December 2011
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As 2012 approaches, it's time to look back at our top Asia Pacific stories of the last year (click here for the UK review). And for those of a competitive bent, there are some truly fabulous prizes to win in the RollOnFriday Christmas Quiz.
So how will 2011 be remembered? Firstly as the year of international mergers. After a four year courtship, DLA Phillips and DLA Piper finally tied the knot. Not to be outdone, UK firm Clifford Chance entered Australia with a double merger (bad-mouthing rival A&O in the process). Blake Dawson said Aussie firms should be scared of international competition, before jumping into bed Ashurst. And Mallesons made history, with the first ever Sino-Australian law firm merger.
Meanwhile, speculation mounted about a raft of other UK-Aussie tie ups. Hogan Lovells flirted with a bevy of firms. And sources reported Herbert Smith was looking to hook up with Freehills and Linklaters with Allen Arthur Robinson. No such speculation about Slaughter and May, however, after the firm slagged off Australian lawyers.
2011 was a tricky time for lawyers who were shown to be variously miserable, workaholics and less trustworthy than accountants. Which may explain why it's been such a good year for dodgy members of the profession. K&L Gates will doubtless be cracking down on accounts processes after a partner made off with $31m from the firm, while Minters' might want to do similar after $2.7m went missing and the firm's CFO fled to Thailand.
But it wasn't all bad. Lawyers revealed the caring side of the profession when floods devastated parts of Australia at the start of the year. One legal trailblazer got her face on a stamp and a Minters' partner scooped a justice award. And things were looking up economically, too, with recruitment on the rise (for the first half of the year at least) and firms posting profit hikes.
Lawyers were encouraged to explore their hippy side, with hypnotists at Baker & McKenzie and meditation at Gilbert + Tobin. And firms embraced social media, with mixed results. Allens Arthur Robinson's "better than Angry Birds" iPhone app turned out to be "lame", Hynes Lawyers' released a buttock-clenching video and Indonesian outfit SSEK Associates posted a scary sexy rap video. Making better fist of things was Marques Lawyers, which encouraged silliness - and recruited - over Twitter.
So it's farewell to 2011, but you can enter the Christmas Quiz which is based on this year's stories. Answer 12 multiple choice questions correctly and you'll be in the running for this year's prize of a meal with the RollOnFriday team if you are in London, or $150 of booze vouchers or a kindle instead.
Best of luck and a very merry Christmas.
