A law firm business adviser recently told me that the “old white guys” are being phased out of top foreign law firms in Hong Kong. By “old white guys,” he meant senior partners, both Caucasian men and women, who were tasked to set up and lead Hong Kong outposts for international firms decades ago. A part of me thinks this is old news but his statement prompted me to do some fact-checking. I wanted to see how far along that “phasing out” process has gone.
If you look at the Hong Kong offices of the top 20 firms by gross revenue on the Global 200, (they all have offices in Hong Kong), only five—Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Kirkland & Ellis, Dentons, Baker McKenzie and Gibson Dunn—are led by non-Asians. I should clarify, however, that Kirkland does not have a Hong Kong managing partner position. But its most senior lawyer there is office founding partner David Eich, who launched the office back in 2011.
