King & Wood Mallesons has edged last year’s leader to emerge the top firm in the 2016 Acritas Asia Pacific Law Firm Brand Index.
Scoring 100 in the study’s brand index,
KWM topped Baker & McKenzie which scored 99. The APAC list was compiled by surveying 375 chief legal buyers in the Asia Pacific region and 255 buyers from outside the region with international legal needs within key APAC areas.
“Asia is a dynamic, diverse and competitive market, and this ranking makes it clear that our genuine depth and quality in the region is making a real difference to our clients,” said Wang Junfeng, KWM global chairman, of the feat.
“We will increase our focus on developing and enhancing our client relationships, deepening and broadening our capability in the areas our clients value most and improving the quality and consistency of client service across the region.”
KWM gained 18 points from last year, scoring top marks in “awareness” and “favourability” as well as being the firm of choice for “top-level litigation” and “top-level M&A”. It also ranked 2nd for “Multi-jurisdictional deals,” in particular “Multi-jurisdictional Litigation”.
“We offer something truly unique. We are building a global law firm out of Asia,” global managing partner
Stuart Fuller said.
“Using our unrivalled depth and quality of local expertise, breadth of relationships and the reach of our global platform we facilitate business for our regional and international clients.”
The largest organisations surveyed in the region said overall spending is expected to rise at over double the global average, Acritas said.
Meanwhile, completing the top 10 are
Herbert Smith Freehills (brand index 66), Kim & Chang (43),
Ashurst (39),
Clifford Chance (38), Jun He (35),
Linklaters (34), Minter Ellison (30),
DLA Piper (28) and Nishimura & Asahi (28).
