In the past few years, law firms in Hong Kong have faced unprecedented hurdles stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, macroeconomic instability and heightened geopolitical tensions. Those emerging from the storm, however, have become not only stronger but also wiser. Leaders share with ALB how adversity has propelled them to finetune their operational strategies to seize new opportunities while also retaining top-class talent.

 

ALB: Now that Hong Kong is gradually beginning its reopening, how would you describe the sentiment among your clients? What are some of the practice areas or industry sectors where you expect to see a boost as a result?

CHRISTOPHER BICKLEY, partner and head of Hong Kong office, Conyers: The gradual opening of the border has been welcome. However, like many other firms in Hong Kong, we have yet to see an uptick in business activity. Clients appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach on many projects until mainland China reopens.

In addition, the decline in the world stock markets and recent interest rate increases have put a dampener on the appetite for clients to raise capital. The areas where we do see continual interest are those one might expect in this part of the economic cycle, namely privatisations and restructurings. Our litigation team continues to be busy with a mixture of corporate and family disputes.

ROSSANA CHU, managing partner, LC Lawyers: Most clients welcome the lifting of some travel restrictions. The sectors that may see a quicker boost are probably those hit most previously by the prior travel restrictions such as tourism, exhibition, and international events.

Yet, the reopening will not bring all the expatriates back to Hong Kong as their companies may have established regional hubs in other countries. Quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and the mainland is yet in place. Also, many sectors worry about deteriorating external factors such as rising interest rates, energy crisis, China-U.S. frictions, and very slow economic growth in most countries. These factors cast a shadow over the recovery of most Hong Kong industries.

ERIC CHOW, managing partner, Eric Chow & Co. in Association with Commerce & Finance Law Offices: We are all very pleased with the government’s effort to reopen Hong Kong to the international community, and our international clients have already planned their trips to Hong Kong after the city has virtually insulated itself from the rest of the world for nearly three years.

On the other hand, our clients in mainland China remain hopeful about the reopening of the Hong Kong-main-land border, and it remains their firm belief that business and leisure travels between the two jurisdictions shall resume in the near future.

In relation to market activities, we do see that the M&A deal count is going up in Southeast Asia, and we expect the same to happen after the mainland and Hong Kong fully reopen themselves to the international community. After all, Hong Kong remains one of the most top-notch global legal hubs, and the demand for our exceptional lawyers in the city will always remain.

ALB: How do you feel the last three years have highlighted Hong Kong’s inherent strengths and resilience, as well as that of the legal industry? What do you feel you have learnt about your own firm or lawyers in the process?

BICKLEY: Hong Kong is an amazing city. It still retains that “can do” attitude with a strong core of people willing to go that extra mile to network and bring in business. We see it every day with clients and service providers. Around us, buildings continue to be built and infrastructure continues to be developed.

So far as our firm is concerned, we have had to be more flexible about how we go about our work relying on technology. Before the pandemic, platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams were never really used. Now we use them constantly for face-to-face discussions with clients. That type of interaction is not going to go away once the mainland opens up.

“Clients appreciate us keeping them as up-to-date as possible on developments. Each cycle tends to throw up a new developing industry, so it is important for us to keep an eye on those sectors in the mainland which are likely to grow over the next few years. We are also looking at how technology can improve the client experience, particularly with the ‘onboarding’ process which can be quite labour-intensive.”

— Christopher Bickley, Conyers

Equally, I think we have become more efficient in how we work. “Work from home” is another concept which will continue to be popular post-pan-demic and is not going away.

CHU: During the past three years, Hong Kong basically is able to guard over all its systems including the government authorities, the judiciary and the legislature. Our financial markets have been functioning in an orderly manner, with no signs of abnormal capital outflow observed. The rule of law in Hong Kong is maintained well. The government keeps relatively considerable foreign exchange reserves which provide a certain level of security to our money markets. Our infrastructure in other aspects like transportation, utilities, communications, and education remains robust.

Yet, the business sectors still face challenges arising from external factors and competition from other jurisdictions. In this process of dealing with the challenges, we learnt the importance of keeping abreast of new developments in the world and upgrading technical skills.

CHOW: The last three years, while being a tough time for many in Hong Kong, have indeed showcased to the world that we are a truly international legal hub. Despite the sharp decrease in inter-national business travels, demands for Hong Kong legal services remain robust, and the pandemic perhaps only has little, if not no, impact on the quality and diversity of the work of the lawyers in town, and most of us still work around the clock to serve clients coming from different jurisdictions. Further, with the generous support from the local and mainland governments, we are hopeful that the legal industry of Hong Kong will only grow further and better with the resumption of international business travel.

The pandemic has also given us an opportunity to observe our colleagues more closely, and we are glad to say that our colleagues are some of the finest in town. Our team has high morale and great teamwork throughout the pandemic, and despite being based in various locations and not being always in the office together, our colleagues still manage to work professionally, seamlessly, and collaboratively with each other. This is never something which we can take for granted, and we are always grateful to our colleagues for holding the fort and going an extra mile for the firm and the clients.

Moreover, our extensive network in the mainland becomes even more precious when cross-border travels become so immensely difficult because our vast presence in the mainland allows us to offer quick and personal assistance to our clients in the mainland without much hindrance.

ALB: Have there been any strategic shifts you have made during this period? Have you embarked on any new initiatives, acquired any talent, or utilised any skills and development training to supplement the same?

BICKLEY: Training our people is very important to us. We have adopted a number of different programmes that are not just know-how related, but growth orientated. At the beginning of the pandemic, everyone talked about resilience. These programmes go further to help our lawyers transition and deal with change in what has been an unpredictable environment.

We are aware that many of our staff really do enjoy coming into the office and like the social engagement. They may like the flexibility of working from home, but they also welcome office interaction. We are therefore focusing on more social activities among our departments and across the office generally. I know we shouldn’t be, but we were really surprised when almost half our office signed up when we offered yoga lessons.

In terms of new initiatives and utilising our skills, our lawyers and staff have enthusiastically dedicated time and resources to organise and partake in charitable events during this period. In general, cross-department collaboration allows us to use organisation and communication skills. It also allows employees, regardless of their roles and capacity, to develop and use their leadership skills. We have been working with The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong. We were particularly impressed when our lawyers exercised much of their creativity to engage with the local school children they took out to experience and explore the city last October. As an office, we have been recognised a Caring Company by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and will continue our work on the CSR front.

CHU: While we keep our strengths in M&As, capital markets and dispute resolutions, our firm has been adopting to the new environment by expanding our capabilities to new areas such as ESG, metaverse and NFTs. Also, we work on corporate reorganisation, debt restructuring, cybersecurity, and data protection.

Our firm is a member of the EY global network. EY provides a wide variety of training to develop “future-focused” skills. The subjects include technologies, sustainability, industry sectors, as well as management/leadership skills. Distinct from the trainings provided by other law firms, most of such EY learning opportunities are not law-focused. I encourage my colleagues to participate in such learnings as they widen our perspectives and equip us to better serve clients in the future.

CHOW: Our practice remains robust during the pandemic, and we remain highly optimistic about the market recovery which comes with the easing of the pandemic-related restrictions.

We have made some relatively significant moves this year. First, we have invited Ms Christy Leung to establish our Disputes Resolution department, making us capable of providing both contentious and non-contentious legal services as one firm, a move which has been welcomed by all our clients because they could work with their go-to lawyers more extensively.

Second, we have also promoted our counsel Mr Brandon Chow to the partnership, and the promotion has enabled us to handle more business and provide full-range legal service in the corporate finance field.

Third, we have moved to Alexandra House, one of the most recognisable skyscrapers in the heart of Hong Kong, to accommodate our growth.

ALB: With the Great Resignation underway globally now, and the needs of lawyers, especially younger lawyers shifting, how are you as a firm adapting to the same? What are some adjustments you have made to your approach to talent acquisition or retention?

BICKLEY: I am not sure we are seeing much of the “Great Resignation” phenomenon here. I think all our young lawyers are committed and career orientated. That said, and I think this was also the case before the pandemic, there is more of an expectation, quite rightly, that they want to receive regular feedback on how they are doing and their career pathway. We are also spending a lot of time globally on firm values. We now also take in more summer students and interns across departments than before, which is a great way to identify future talents.

CHU: Hong Kong law firms have lost people in recent years. Some leavers move to other countries to try their luck, and some decide to leave the legal profession to start something new. At any time, it is the responsibility of partners to cultivate the interest of their personnel in legal work. In our firm, when partners involve younger lawyers in any engagement, we explain to them the meaning of their tasks and how the tasks form part of the whole engagement. This helps raise their sense of presence and belonging.

Also, we work as a team and legal staff of all levels may exchange views freely. The intellectual development of our lawyers can be enhanced. Our partners stay in close contact with our employees daily to maintain morale and manage our people’s emotional needs on a timely basis. The above measures prove to be quite effective in our talent recruitment and retention efforts.

CHOW: The possibility of the “Great Resignation” is without a doubt a concern to the management of the firm. However, we have yet to feel the “pain” as our practice areas are very balanced and the overall demand for our services remains strong.

Meanwhile, we continue to make new recruitments every year. We always remind ourselves of the importance of maintaining a good firm culture and understanding the needs of our juniors. As such, we review our talent retention plans and strategies from time to time to ensure that we remain an attractive employer to jobseekers in various regards, such as remuneration and work arrangement. As a side note, our efforts in understanding the juniors and maintaining a healthy work culture within the firm are perhaps why all our trainees have chosen to stay with us as NQ after the completion of their traineeships.

ALB: What are some of the ways you feel your clients in Hong Kong are evolving and will continue to evolve? How are you ensuring you can be the best possible counsel to them during this time of evolution?

BICKLEY: We have been in Hong Kong since 1985 so have seen many different cycles in Hong Kong. Due to a number of global macro headwinds, this cycle is longer than many of the others. When Hong Kong does rebound, it tends to do so quite quickly. We, therefore, need to be front and centre in our client’s minds when things begin to improve. Clients are extremely sophisticated, so they appreciate us keeping them as up-to-date as possible on developments in the offshore industry. Each cycle tends to throw up a new developing industry, so it is important for us to keep an eye on those sectors in the mainland which are likely to grow over the next few years. We are also looking at how technology can improve the client experience, particularly with the “onboarding” process which can be quite labour-intensive.

CHU: Many clients in Hong Kong are looking for diversification opportunities. In the fast-changing world, traditional businesses may face challenges and changes. Yet, new opportunities may mean higher returns and spread of risks, and they are often new and hard to harness. When we provide legal advice, we adopt a design-thinking approach by putting forward practicable solutions that fit clients’ commercial needs. At the same time, we share our observations on how an enterprise overcomes difficulties in the purchase and achieves post-acquisition synergy.

Also, as part of the EY global net-work, we may refer EY’s other services to the client, including tax planning, financial due diligence, business valuation, sustainability consulting, technology transformation, internal control review and employee incentive schemes. The comprehensive services may increase the success of the acquisition and enhance value in the diversification.

Another area that in-house counsel of our clients focuses on is how to do more at a lower cost. To achieve this, we may provide technology-based systems and solutions to manage large amounts of contracts, handle many entities, deal with increasing regulatory research and mapping needs, and cope with high volume of evidence in complicated disputes or investigations.

CHOW: Our clients in Hong Kong have become more versatile and adaptive after experiencing the pandemic. For example, an increasing number of our clients are recently seeking advice regarding entering the Greater Bay Area in light of the attractive policies and benefits offered by the local governments. Our Hong Kong office, together with our well-established mainland offices, can work jointly to serve as a one-stop shop for these clients.

Meanwhile, we have plans to further expand our office and practice areas to keep ourselves up with our clients’ growth and increasing demand for a more diversified range of legal services, ensuring that we will be a full-service law firm with the ability to provide our clients with any legal services that they may require.