King & Wood Mallesons and SJ Berwin combined on November 1 to form the first global law firm headquartered in Asia, and with more than 2,700 lawyers in 30 locations worldwide. The merger, once again emphasizes the importance of the Asia market and close regions including Australia and Southeast Asia. In its press release the new firm claimed “The network is unrivalled in its ability to connect clients with opportunities in and out of the key Asian growth markets.”
The new entity would be known as King & Wood Mallesons in all other markets except in Europe, where it will be known as King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin. The new tagline for the firm seems to be “The Power of Together –Connecting Asia to the world and the world to Asia.”
The firm said that since announcing the merger in July, clients have expressed a significant interest in using the potential opportunities presented by the new combination.
Putting forward the ESP of the new combination, Co-Deputy Chairman of the firm, Stephen Kon said, “Our powerful Asia Pacific base is our key difference and means that we are best placed to meet the current and future needs of our clients … across Asia, Europe and the Middle East …”
Remarking that the new combination between SJ Berwin and King & Wood Mallesons is “the global law firm for the future,” the firm’s Co-Deputy Chairman, Stephen Minns said “Our advantage in being a unique challenger brand is that we do not conform to blueprint service models but instead think of our clients’ commercial needs …”
The new law firm network has already catapulted itself within the top 25 law firms in the world with a turnover of $1 bn. The new entity is operating under the Swiss Verein financial structure with more than 550 partners.