Malaysia’s largest law firm by headcount, Zaid Ibrahim, has rebranded its regional offering under the moniker ZICOlaw and named Singapore as its regional hub all in an effort to establish the firm as an ‘Asean brand’.
“You can see CIMB and AirAsia calling themselves an Asean brand…We are like an Asean brand,” said the firm’s regional managing partner, Chew Seng Kok.
The firm moved quickly to refute claims that it was forsaking its Malaysian roots with senior partner Datuk Nik Norzrul Thani saying that the firm remained committed to Malaysia, (the group’s regional headquarters will remain in Kuala Lumpur) but the potential for increasing the firm’s offshore revenues as well the need to follow core Malaysian clients as they expand into SE Asia were opportunities that were too good to pass up.
“We see Malaysian banks expanding overseas and we’re just following our clients,” he said. “U.S. and U.K. [law firms] grew when they followed their clients,” Nik said. The firm plans on bolstering its ‘Asean brand’ in the months ahead by expanding into Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Chew Seng Kok also said the firm plans to increase revenues coming from its six regional offices (Jakarta, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Sydney and Melbourne) from thirty to fifty percent by 2015 on the back of strong demand for its sha’riah services throughout the region. The firm’s Bangkok office advised on issuance of Thailand’s first sovereign sukuk and the firm’s Malaysian office is advising the Japanese and Australian governments on developing their Islamic finance industries.