The highly anticipated ALB Hong Kong Law Awards is now open for submissions! Returning for its 19th edition, the renowned event continues to celebrate distinctive contributions of private practitioners and in-house counsel within Hong Kong’s legal landscape. The black-tie gala awards ceremony will be held on Friday, September 4, in Hong Kong.

UK law firm Stephenson Harwood is closing its seven-year-old office in Beijing and refocus its offering in Hong Kong, following a review of its presence in Asia.

UK law firm Mishcon de Reya has opened an office in Singapore, its first outside its home base of London after hiring two restructuring lawyers from Withers KhattarWong.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues in India, the country’s three largest firms by headcount have announced changes to lawyer salaries.

During the tremendous growth of the Chinese economy over the last decade, corporates in China were easily able to obtain loans from banks and other financial institutions that were equally keen to advance credit, leading to a rapid rise in debt levels. Whilst the government sought to curb corporate debt by, among other means, restricting informal borrowing (also known as ‘shadow banking’), the slowdown in the economy in the last year or so and more recently following the outbreak of the coronavirus have yet again led to renewed policies to allow more loans and local government bond issuance. China’s debt to GDP ratio remains high, and with that, so is the level of non-performing loans.

UK firm Osborne Clarke is set to close its Hong Kong office, with operations scheduled to come to an end by June – the second international firm to announce that it would shutter its office in the city in just over a month.

The renowned ALB Malaysia Law Awards is returning for its 7th edition this year, on August 14, with a brand-new format of celebration – virtual awards ceremony. The annual event will continue to give recognition to the outstanding legal practitioners and most significant deals from within and around Malaysia.

India has stepped up scrutiny of investments from companies based in neighbouring countries, in what is widely seen as a move to stave off takeovers by Chinese firms during the coronavirus outbreak.

For the first time since September 2004, no merger and acquisition deal worth more than $1 billion was announced worldwide last week, according to data provider Refinitiv, as the new coronavirus stifles global M&A.

While law firms may have once courted a traditional, somewhat conventional image — today, innovation and adaptation is the name of the game.