League table puts 281 HK lawyers on top of world

DLA Piper, the world's largest business law firm by number of solicitors, has taken the top spot in a league table of the most pre-eminent international legal services providers.

Earlier this month, the firm, whose major clients include Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings and mainland insurance giant Ping An, completed a merger with DLA Phillips Fox of Australia to create a global practice with more than 4,200 lawyers operating out of 76 offices in 30 countries.

Magnus Hoglund, the co-founder of United States-based Law360, a publisher of litigation news, yesterday announced that DLA Piper and the 19 other law firms on its list 'have been aggressive in expanding beyond the borders of their home countries and answering their clients' call for multi-jurisdictional know-how'.

The top three firms in Law360's 'Global 20' - DLA Piper, Baker & McKenzie and Norton Rose Group - have at least 70 per cent of their lawyers stationed outside the firm's home country and together have 120 international offices in more than 40 countries.

The seven other firms in the top half of the rankings included Clifford Chance, White & Case, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Dewey & LeBoeuf and Shearman & Sterling.

According to Law360, it ranked each firm in five categories: the number of countries where it has offices, the number of offices outside its home country, the percentage of lawyers working outside its home country, the breadth of its international work and the size and complexity of its cross-border work.