Legal Media 360 specializes in the research and analysis of market leading legal rankings and awards.
In the run up to the launch of our 2022 edition, Legal Media 360 reveals Asia’s best law firms and lawyers by area of practice from our 2021 dataset.
To find out who the Undisputed Leaders are, we look at which firms have been consistently ranked in Tier 1 in firm and lawyer rankings AND have won at least one award. Here are our findings for Corporate and M&A in 2021:
Individual Firm and Lawyer Leaders
In 2021, forty-five firms and fifty-two lawyers were consistently ranked in the highest tier in multiple publications.
FIRMS
CHINA
Clifford Chance
Fangda Partners
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
JunHe
King & Wood Mallesons
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Zhong Lun Law Firm
HONG KONG
Clifford Chance
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Slaughter and May
INDIA
AZB & Partners
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Khaitan & Co
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
INDONESIA
Assegaf Hamzah & Partners
Ginting & Reksodiputro
Hadiputranto Hadinoto & Partners
JAPAN
Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Nishimura & Asahi
MALAYSIA
Rahmat Lim & Partners
Shearn Delamore & Co
Skrine
Wong & Partners
PHILIPPINES
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
SINGAPORE
Allen & Overy
Clifford Chance
Linklaters
Milbank
WongPartnership
SRI LANKA
Julius & Creasy
SOUTH KOREA
Bae Kim & Lee
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Kim & Chang
Lee & Ko
Shin & Kim
TAIWAN
Baker McKenzie
Lee and Li
THAILAND
Allen & Overy
Baker McKenzie
Linklaters
Weerawong C&P
VIETNAM
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
VILAF
YKVN
LAWYERS
CAMBODIA
Siphana Sok, SokSiphana&associates
Youdy Bun, Bun & Associates
CHINA
Anthony Jing Zhao, Zhong Lun Law Firm
Charles Chaoying Li, Han Kun Law Offices
Hongjiu Zhang, Jingtian & Gongcheng
Michael Han, Fangda Partners
Wei Bai, Jingtian & Gongcheng
HONG KONG
Robert Ashworth, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
INDIA
Cyril Shroff, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Haigreve Khaitan, Khaitan & Co
Rajiv Luthra, L&L Partners
Shardul Shroff, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
Zia Mody, AZB & Partners
INDONESIA
Ahmad Fikri Assegaf, Assegaf Hamzah & Partners
David Dawborn, Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung
JAPAN
David Sneider, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett JE
Hiroki Inoue, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Ken Lebrun, Davis Polk & Wardwell
Kenneth Siegel, Morrison & Foerster JE
Mitsuhiro Kamiya, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom JE
Takashi Ejiri, Natori Law Office
Yoshinobu Fujimoto, Nishimura & Asahi
MACAU
Carlos D Simões, DSL Lawyers
João Nuno Riquito, Riquito Advogados
Jorge Neto Valente, Jorge Neto Valente Advogados
Manuela António, Macau Manuela António - Lawyers and Notaries
MALAYSIA
Abdul Kadir Kassim, Kadir Andri & Partners
MYANMAR
Swee Gim Cheah, Kelvin Chia Yangon
PAKISTAN
Kairas Kabraji, Kabraji & Talibuddin
PHILIPPINES
Perry Pe, Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles
Rafael Morales, Morales & Justiniano
SINGAPORE
Andrew Lim, Allen & Gledhill
David Zemans, Milbank
Mei Lim, Allen & Gledhill
Wai King Ng, WongPartnership
SOUTH KOREA
Daniel Sae Chin Kim, O'Melveny
Kyung Taek Jung, Kim & Chang
Sang Jin Han, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Sean Seong Hoon Yi, KL Partners
Young Jay Ro, Kim & Chang
Young Man Huh, Kim & Chang
SRI LANKA
Arittha Wikramanayake, Heritage Partners
TAIWAN
Alex Chiang, Baker McKenzie
CV Chen, Lee and Li
THAILAND
Kitipong Urapeepatanapong, Baker McKenzie
Weerawong Chittmittrapap, Weerawong C&P
Wilailuk Okanurak, Linklaters
VIETNAM
Duc Tran Anh, Allen & Overy
Mark Fraser, Frasers Law Company
Tony Foster, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Sesto Vecchi, Russin & Vecchi
Tran Tuan Phong, VILAF
Firms with both firm and lawyer rankings in the highest tier
Twenty-one firms had both a firm and at least one lawyer ranked in highest tier:
CHINA
Fangda Partners
Zhong Lun Law Firm
HONG KONG
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
INDIA
AZB & Partners
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Khaitan & Co
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
INDONESIA
Assegaf Hamzah & Partners
JAPAN
Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Nishimura & Asahi
SINGAPORE
Milbank
WongPartnership
SOUTH KOREA
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Kim & Chang
TAIWAN
Baker McKenzie
Lee and Li
THAILAND
Baker McKenzie
Linklaters
Weerawong C&P
VIETNAM
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
VILAF
Leading the Pack
While rankings performance reflects year-on-year consistency, awards recognise the top firms and lawyers based on recent work only. Therefore, awards is a key differentiator that reveals who is currently doing outstanding work.
When award wins for Corporate and M&A are considered along with firms that have both tier 1 firm and lawyer rankings, only eighteen firms are featured.
The Undisputed Leaders for Corporate and M&A in 2021 are:
CHINA
Fangda Partners
Zhong Lun Law Firm
HONG KONG
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
INDIA
AZB & Partners
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Khaitan & Co
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
INDONESIA
Assegaf Hamzah & Partners
JAPAN
Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Nishimura & Asahi
SINGAPORE
Milbank
WongPartnership
SOUTH KOREA
Kim & Chang
TAIWAN
Lee and Li
THAILAND
Baker McKenzie
Linklaters
Weerawong C&P
VIETNAM
VILAF
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