Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) is set to exit its Asia business and shutter its offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.

A spokesperson said: “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to initiate an orderly wind-down of operations in Asia,” which it anticipates will conclude towards the end of the year.

The firm’s current priority, it said, was “to invest in the transatlantic platform and operate selectively in the US, UK, Europe and the Middle East”. The move will affect four partners in Hong Kong, two of whom also operate in the highly competitive Singapore market, where they have an additional partner.  

The spokesperson added: “We are hugely grateful to our excellent, Band 1 teams in Hong Kong and Singapore for their contributions to the firm and our clients. We will continue to service our clients’ needs in Asia through our network of long-standing associated firms and colleagues across BCLP.”

The move follows a global strategic review of the firm’s work. BCLP’s Asian practice is best known for its work in the property, construction, infrastructure and dispute resolution sectors, where the firm has traditionally been prominent, both since the merger that created it in 2018 and as part of the legacy of Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bryan Cave.

Following the merger in 2018 BCLP experienced a series of Hong Kong exits, including Kristi Swartz, the former managing partner of legacy Bryan Cave’s Hong Kong office, and partner Nigel Binnersley, who left to establish Swartz Binnersley & Associates. That firm closed in 2021.

Swartz later joined DLA Piper, while Bob Charlton, the former managing partner of the Hong Kong office of the legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner, left to join Addleshaw Goddard before the merger.

The firm also saw two partner exits in Singapore this year, with corporate lawyer Tun Zaw Mra joining Charles Russell Speechlys at the start of January and construction lawyer Wanjing Goh leaving the same month, with her subsequent appointment yet to be revealed, according to her LinkedIn profile.

BCLP shuttered its Beijing office in 2020 as part of a global cost-cutting exercise, following its closure in Shanghai in 2019.

A slew of US law firms have scaled back their Chinese operations in recent years, including Cleary Gottlieb and Milbank, which both announced exits from Beijing, as well as Paul Weiss and Reed Smith, who made similar announcements last year.

Mayer Brown also retrenched its China operations last April, significantly reducing its presence by splitting from much of its Greater China arm. The majority of the firm’s Hong Kong lawyers set up an independent law firm, reviving the legacy Johnson Stokes & Master brand.

However, CMS has bucked that trend, recently merging with its Hong Kong alliance partner to create a 40-lawyer practice.