China and India have become the leading suppliers of goods to the United Arab Emirates. India exported a record 61.5 billion dirhams (about 16.7 billion dollars) worth of goods to the UAE in 2009 while China exported 47.8 billion dirhams (about 13 billion dollars) to UAE last year, totaling 109.3 billion dirhams. Imports from China and India make up 24.5 percent of the UAE’s total imports. The United States, Japan and the European Union formerly served as the top exporters to the UAE during the 1990’s. In the past ten years, however, India and China have emerged as the most dominant import sources to UAE. The increased presence of China and India is the result of an aggressive marketing maneuver by the two countries. They offer competitive prices, geographical convenience and strong political relationships to the UAE. The marketing blitz along with the volatility in the bill of imports from key Western suppliers established India and China as the dominant suppliers of import goods.

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Baker & McKenzie has hired Paul Elliott as the firm’s Asia Pacific Head of Project Finance. Elliot has extensive expertise advising clients on project, structured and cross-border financings, along with debt restructuring, in the power, oil, gas & petrochemicals, telecoms, transportation and water industries. Having practiced in England, Hong Kong, Thailand and New Zealand over a thirty year career, Elliot most recently lead the firm’s Finance and Projects practice group in Singapore. The assignment Elliot is set to begin on September 1, 2010 was created in response to increasing demands for integrated advice from clients involved in significant regional infrastructure projects.

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Following the last two years of salary freezes and lowered bonus structures, ex-pat packages in China and Japan have become a hot topic among U.S. and U.K. attorneys looking to relocate from the U.S. and U.K. to Asia. The top firms have weathered the economic crisis just fine according to data gathered by ALB Legal News, and most firms continue to offer competitive packages in Asia in order to attract and retain top legal talent. This is especially true of firms that, as newcomers to a given market, are anxious to increase their ranks.

Firms remain committed to the region, investing resources into their foreign offices, hiring or promoting partners, and offering competitive remuneration packages to their strongest attorneys, especially bilingual ones. While ex-pat packages have for the most part remained stable at top firms, especially in more mature legal markets like Tokyo and Hong Kong, we have seen more variance than ever over the past year. Increasingly there is a willingness to negotiate and make offers on a case-by-case basis.

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Lovells has promoted 21 new partners across its offices, the largest number of its lawyers promoted to partner since 2007 when it made up 13 lawyers to partner, before it rebrands and merges with US firm Hogan & Hartson in May. Six of the new partners are from Asia and the Middle East. The new partners will be officially promoted on the day that Hogan Lovells debuts, and they increase the total partnership to over 800 partners.

Hogan Lovells’ new partners in Asia & Middle East

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Latham & Watkins has allied with former White & Case Saudi sponsor Mohammed Al Sheikh and how has a branch in Riyadh. Al Sheikh’s departure from White & Case to Latham & Watkins is the fifth senior-level defection from White & Case’s Middle East operations this year, and all have been to Latham & Watkins. This will be Latham’s fourth branch in the Middle East.

Although White & Case still lists the Riyadh branch on its website, there are no local lawyers and no active search for a local sponsor either.

Paul Hastings has appointed Toshiyuki Arai as chair of its Tokyo branch.  Arai has been with the firm for almost 20 years and specializes in the cross-border investment and M&A.   With his new position, Arai will oversee the strategic development of the firm’s considerable but expanding Tokyo base.

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White & Case has hired Francis Zou, a lawyer from Allen & Overy’s US China group, to be a partner in its global banking practice. He is expected to help bridge the firm’s US and Asia banking practices, and his extensive experience with Chinese clients is expected to bring in new clients.

Global banking head, Eric Berg, stated: “He has significant background working with top Chinese commercial banks and corporations that will greatly increase our cross-border opportunities for serving these companies, especially as they ramp up their activities in the US and other key markets, including Asia and Latin America.

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An economic downturn doesn’t necessarily mean that partners stay put or firms are discouraged to bring on lateral partners.  For a partner-level attorney there are many opportunities for lateral movement.  According to The American Lawyer’s 2010 “Lateral Report,” 2,774 partners made lateral moves in the year ending September 30, 2009, a 10.6 percent increase from the preceding year.

This holds true in the Asia and Middle East markets as evidenced by Norton Rose’s recent survey showing a significant perceived shift in economic power from the west to the east.  Last year, Norton Rose moved even more partners to their Hong Kong office and Clifford Chance saw more work in all of its offices in Asia.  The majority of opportunity for partner level candidates stems from the continued interest of Western law firms in these emerging markets as US and UK law firms try to diversify and hedge their risks in a down US economy.  More established firms are looking to diversify their platform in such areas as international arbitration, restructuring, private investment funds and energy and/or build out their core strengths internationally by making opportunistic hires and internal transfers (typically from their US or London offices).  Newer offices are taking advantage of the turn in the market and increase in lateral partner movement to avoid the risk and expense of growing organically by hiring partners with regional experience and expertise.  That said, while lateral movement has been scattered among practice areas, most US and UK firms are looking for the same profile: a solo corporate partner with a sustainable and portable book of business valued at a minimum of $2.5 million and significant experience and contacts in the region.  In 2009, we saw over 55 lateral partner moves in Asia and the Middle East and 15 so far this year.

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K&L Gates LLP, an established global law firm, has opened an office in Singapore its fifth office in the Asia region. With locations in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei, the Singapore office will bolster its rapidly growing South East Asia presence. Now, the firm has over 70 Asian legal professionals and over 200 attorneys in the firm’s Asia practice group. Notable attorneys added to the Singapore team are corporate partners James Chen, Sin Khai Tan, and Choo Lye Tan.

With the addition of the Singapore office, K&L Gates’ technology, transportation, energy, financial services and investment funds, and other clients already based in Singapore, South East Asia, and India will stand to benefit from the local presence. The services provided from Singapore will supplement the firm’s cross-border corporate, mergers & acquisitions, restructuring transactions, and international arbitration practices. Furthermore, the Singapore team will offer services in investment management, including inbound and outbound fund formation and expanded capabilities in technology, with a particular emphasis in the areas of life sciences and digital media as well as maritime.

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Asia’s law firms are starting to offer flexible working arrangements, such as adjustable working hours and options to work from home, at a time when firms are freezing salaries and reducing pay. Singapore’s Drew & Napier, Korea’s Yulchon, India’s Khaitan & Co, and Vietnam’s VILAF all let lawyers work from their home if they want to. Gulf-based Fitche & Co even offers three-day work weeks for some lawyers, along with job share arrangements. “Working flexibility and environment is one of the best things of this firm,” said one lawyer from FoxMandal Little.Korean firm Yulchon is especially kind in its arrangements. “Individual associate experiences will, of course, vary according to the work style of the partner supervising on a given matter, but in general the firm doesn’t care when you work or how long you are in the office if you get the job done,” said one respondent. “I can and will stay late at the office, but I prefer to work at home outside regular office hours when needed. Here I have that flexibility; to my knowledge, that is much rarer at other top firms.”

“Married women could take good advantage of the home-working system, which is well established here at Yulchon,” said another.

Most firms will take into account each individual lawyer’s circumstances and come up with a working arrangement if asked to. However, not all firms have arrangements in place. A Hong Kong lawyer stated: “No [arrangements] offered here, and we still have rostered Saturday work.”

In Japan, the work culture is a lot harsher: “As a firm policy they may offer some of these arrangements, but in this particular office I am certain an associate who took advantage of them would be fired within the year.”

Steptoe & Johnson LLP, a Washington-based international trade law firm, has established its first foothold in Asia with the opening of an office in Beijing. While the firm has worked with China extensively in the past, they have not had a branch there until now. The firm believes that the new office will allow it to better serve its Chinese clients along with multinationals doing business in the region. The office will be managed by Eric Emerson, a partner in the firm’s International Trade and China practices, and will advise on anti-corruption (FCPA) issues, export control and sanctions work, litigation and arbitration for Chinese clients engaged in cross-border litigation or dispute resolution, regulatory advice and counseling to non-Chinese companies entering, and doing business in the Chinese market.

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Lovells has expanded its presence in Asian though its associated law firm Al-Yaqoub Attorneys & Legal Advisers. AYALA has opened up a branch in Jeddah to complement its office in Riyadh. Lovells now is one of the few international law firms to have an office in both lf those two major Saudi Arabian city, and it hopes that the new office will give it a strong base to work with Saudi clients and develop new relationships in the largest Middle Eastern market.

Crispin Rapinet, the firm’s regional managing partner for Asia and the Middle East, commented, “Jeddah has historically been the commercial centre - many of Saudi’s largest corporations are headquartered there - and Riyadh the capital and banking hub. As one of the few international firms to have offices in both, we are significantly well-placed to take advantage of the key economic activity in both Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia.”