Having launched 15 years ago, international firm Winston & Strawn is to close its Hong Kong office in the new year.
International firm
Winston & Strawn
is set to close its Hong Kong office. Scheduled to take effect on 2 February next year, the closure will mark the end of the firm’s 15-year presence in the Special Administrative Region. The affected office currently has five lawyers, including two local partners and two associates, and is headed up by corporate, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) practitioner
Simon Luk,
who divides his time between the Hong Kong office and Shanghai.
The sole disputes lawyer in the soon to be closed office is local partner
Gino Cheng,
who splits his practice between Hong Kong and Los Angeles. A US-qualified patent practitioner and registered foreign lawyer, he concentrates on intellectual property (IP) disputes in court and arbitration, and before the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), as well as in
inter partes
and
ex parte
matters before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).
Technology matters are a particular area of focus for Cheng, who has advised on standards in data and power storage, semi-conductors, telecommunications and distributed ledgers, and who has previously acted for technology giant
HTC
. Before joining Winston in 2014, he spent five years at
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
where he rose to managing associate.
It is unclear what the future holds for the Hong Kong office lawyers, with Cheng already having relocated to Hong Kong from Taipei in 2017 when that office was also abolished after barely three years, along with the closure of the firm’s Beijing office around the same time after less than eight years.
The shuttering of the Hong Kong presence means Winston & Strawn’s Shanghai office will remain as its sole East Asian office, but the firm indicated that it intends to provide continuity of service in the region
via its formal alliance with PRC firm
Yuanda China Law Firm
– known as
YuandaWinston
– which began in July 2020.
A firm spokesperson provided a statement: “Winston & Strawn has made the difficult decision to close our Hong Kong office, effective February 1, 2024.”
“After carefully analysing changing client needs and the legal market in Hong Kong, we have decided to consolidate our resources in Asia. The firm will continue to service clients with business in the region from our office in Shanghai, China, and through our strategic alliance (YuandaWinston) with Yuanda China Law Office. We expect that several of our existing Hong Kong attorneys will transition to other Winston offices.”
Also this week, Winston & Strawn
elevated eight litigators as part of its 16-strong partner-promotion round
.
Other international firms to announce office closures in Asia this year include
Herbert Smith Freehills
in Kuala Lumpur
.
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