A large US-headquartered law firm by the name of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is closing its offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, affecting 33 people and meaning the firm will no longer have a presence in the region.

A large US-headquartered law firm by the name of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is closing its offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, affecting 33 people and meaning the firm will no longer have a presence in the region, this publication can confirm.

Of the 33 affected staff, all but one are in Hong Kong. It is understood that there are talks at present on whether some of these people will transition into other jobs at the firm, or go elsewhere.

The firm still expects to serve clients from Asia because it has kept its Shanghai licence and is exploring its licence options in Hong Kong. The Shanghai office was opened in 2007.

"We have spent much of this fiscal year conducting a rigorous evaluation of our overall business and are aligning the firm to focus on our practice strengths in the US and Europe.  As a result, the Governance Committee decided to substantially downsize our presence in Hong Kong and Shanghai. I was in Hong Kong with Alan Parsons last week and we have communicated this difficult decision to the lawyers and staff in person. We will be winding down our operations in Hong Kong and will be helping the people there to transition over the coming months. In addition, we are exploring the creation of a service centre office in Hong Kong, and we plan to maintain a license and presence in Shanghai," David Greenwald, chairman of the firm, said in an internal memo seen by this publication.

"You can be assured that the decision to reduce our commitment in this region was not taken lightly, particularly since we continue to believe in the long term prospects of Asia.  However, after reviewing our overall performance in this region and the current opportunities, we concluded that our growth potential in Asia was not sufficiently attractive from a commercial perspective without significant additional investment, and the governance committee determined that it is not the time to increase our investment in this region.  We believe the Firm and our clients will be better served by a greater focus on our core practices and markets. Our strategy demands that we remain thoughtful and disciplined in our efforts to carefully invest resources to provide exceptional client service.  We have deepened our partner bench in several key practice areas in the US and Europe, including private equity/M&A, real estate, litigation, tax and finance.  We continue to recruit selected lateral partners and associates to advance our strategy and to increase resources in areas where we are resource-constrained and need more lawyers with exceptional abilities to support client demands," he added.

Other offices of the firm are in New York, Washington DC, London, Paris and Frankfurt. It covers a wide range of work for corporate and individual clients, including trusts, estates, and tax. It works in areas including white collar crime and securities regulation.