Sidley Austin has named Chicago-based partner Thomas Albrecht as its new Asia-Pacific managing partner. The US firm created the new leadership position as part of a ‘strategic plan for the Asia-Pacific region’, which includes adding more offices to the six it currently has in the region.
Sidley Austin has named Chicago-based partner Thomas Albrecht as its new Asia-Pacific managing partner. The US firm created the new leadership position as part of a ‘strategic plan for the Asia-Pacific region’, which includes adding more offices to the six it currently has in the region.Albrecht will transfer from his current post in Chicago to take up the role based in Hong Kong. He will work closely with Sidley’s Tokyo managing partner Tomoo Nishikawa and Hong Kong corporate finance partner Constance Choy, both of whom sit on the executive committee alongside Albrecht.
Sidley’s management committee chairman and partner Charles Douglas said the new appointment is imperative for the firm’s growth in Asia-Pacific. “We’re tapping [Albrecht’s] experience [to further develop] our operations in the Asia-Pacific region, recognising the increasing importance to our clients of that fast-growing part of the world,” he said. “The firm’s ability to realise its ambitions for our Asia-Pacific platform will be greatly enhanced by basing Tom in our Hong Kong office.”
Before Albrecht’s appointment, management responsibilities over Sidley’s six Asia-Pacific offices – Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo – were loosely divided between Greater China managing partner William Fifield and other partners within each office.
Fifield will step down from that role at the end of 2010 and return to Dallas, where he was office managing partner before taking up the China role in 2005. “Over the past five years, Bill Fifield has made a tremendous contribution to Sidley’s regional expansion, but increased client demand compels us to plan for growth and to consider other jurisdictions where we should add offices,” said Albrecht.
Some observers have questioned the appointment – concerned over the message being sent by appointing a US lawyer to lead an Asian practice. “I’m not sure that this is necessarily the best move. For a firm that prides itself on a strong Asia practice, you’d think they would tap an Asian attorney to manage the region,” said Thomas Chow, the writer of legal blog, China Esquire.
Meanwhile, Sidley recently appointed Chinese lawyer Yabo Lin as a partner, to work across the firm’s Palo Alto and China offices advising on cross-border investments between the US and Asia.
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