Weil to Add 2 Asia Offices; Tokyo Next?
Corrected: Two New York City-based corporate partners of Weil Gotshal & Manges are moving to Hong Kong to open a new firm office there, and the firm also plans a Beijing presence.
Partners Akiko Mikumo and Peter Feist, along with Shanghai partner David Meredith and two associates, will establish the new Hong Kong office of the 1,200-attorney law firm, reports Metropolitan Corporate Counsel in a detailed question-and-answer format interview with two of the partners. Mikumo is a member of the firm’s management committee and, notes Legal Week, formerly headed the firm’s practice in London between 1998 and 2002. Both partners have mergers and acquisitions expertise.
The Hong Kong office will focus on private equity and project finance work, reports Bloomberg.
“In order to get the most out of our Asia practice, we had to be in Hong Kong,” Mikumo, who will be managing partner of the Asia practice, tells the news agency. “Once you’re in Shanghai, you need to be in the key financial centers.” Weil opened a Shanghai office in 2004, and is applying for a license to open an office in Beijing. Tokyo, says Mikumo, “would be a natural next step.”
Weil is one of at least two major law firms whose Hong Kong expansion plans have been in the news this month. As reported in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, the new combination of Dewey & LeBoeuf also is establishing a Hong Kong office.
(Updated 09-06-07 at 4:31 p.m. CST to mention David Meredith.)
