What will the Year of the Ox bring for the legal profession? What impacts will the financial crisis have on law firms' results in 2009? How will client demands change? ALB China asks nine legal experts this new year to predict trends in nine different practice areas
A year full of surprises and unexpected turns for the business community sums up 2008. Law firms and in-house legal departments found themselves dealing with issues they could not have predicted.
In line with the country's economic development, many law firms experienced a slow-down in growth and only a number of them hit the revenue targets they set at the beginning of 2008, when the market was still bullish. As the Chinese New Year draws near, the legal fraternity are leaving the past year behind with mixed feelings and welcoming in the new one with cautious optimism.
Although there is uncertainty still in the air and the impact of the unprecedented global financial crisis is likely to continue throughout the entire year of 2009, law firms are hoping for the best and recognising that opportunity can come from crisis. A panel of legal experts, specialising in different areas, has come together to give their unique take on the pipeline issues and how things will pan out in the legal market.
According to our experts, each sector and practice area - such as M&A, IP and banking & finance -will present legal professionals with a distinct set of opportunities and challenges. IPOs and private equitydriven deals may continue their downward trend, but restructuring, bankruptcy and litigation could help cushion the drop-off in transactional work. Emerging practices, such as anti-trust, are expected to produce groundbreaking work implementing new legal developments. The RMB4trn (US$586bn) economic stimulus plan is anticipated to help restore the confidence of investors in the infrastructure sector and stimulate demand for relevant legal services. Inhouse legal teams will be stretched due to reduced budgets for external legal services, and it is possible that the legal recruiting market will be tight.
No matter what 2009 has in store, it will be a year of adjustments and hard work. Firms that embrace the changes will be best equipped to weather this storm. ALB China wishes all the law firms and in-house teams success in the year of the golden ox.
ALB China: Year of the Ox predictions panel
Anti-monopoly: Alex Potter, partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Banking & finance: Liu Dali, partner, Jun He
Capital markets: Yan Yu, managing partner, Jia Yuan Law Firm
Dispute resolution: Gary Seib, Dispute Resolution Practice Group in the Asia-Pacific,
Baker & McKenzie
Infrastructure: Wang Jihong, partner, V & T Law Firm
Intellectual property: Lian Yunze, partner, Hylands Law Firm
M&A: Yang Xiaolei, partner, King & Wood
Private equity: Jonathan Zhou, partner, Fangda Partners
Real estate: Zhang Xuebing, managing partner, Zhong Lun
Recruitment: Frazer Xia, founder and managing director, China Legal Career
Next: Anti-monopoly
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