CMS said today that it has officially merged with its Hong Kong alliance firm Lau Horton & Wise. 

The firm will operate as CMS Hong Kong going forward. The combined practice will house more than 40 lawyers and be led by disputes partner Steven Wise, who joined Lau Horton & Wise from RPC in 2018 and was made managing partner of the firm last year. 

CMS first opened in Hong Kong in 2016 through its German arm, CMS Hasche Sigle, with the office initially focused on dispute resolution and M&A. It formed an alliance with Lau Horton & Wise – then operating as Shirley Lau & Co – two years later in a move that saw CMS add local law capabilities in Hong Kong. 

For her part, Lau, who was a partner at Troutman Sanders before founding her eponymous firm, joined Loeb & Loeb’s capital markets practice last year alongside partner Polly Liu. 

Wise said the merger of the two firms “created a stronger platform that allows us to deliver a broader and more integrated range of services that clients need. The unified CMS Hong Kong team will offer clients the best of both worlds: strong local knowledge paired with global insights”.

The combined firm’s offering spans practices including banking and finance, corporate/M&A, dispute resolution, international arbitration, insurance and reinsurance, IP, funds, life sciences, shipping and trade, and TMT.

It will offer Hong Kong law counsel alongside international law capabilities, supported by CMS’s international network of 6,300 lawyers across 84 offices. CMS said the combination would strengthen its ability to support clients across the Asia-Pacific region, where it also has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brisbane and Sydney.

The move follows CMS adding a number of partners in Hong Kong in recent months, including corporate/M&A partner Steven Tran from Morrison & Foerster and leading funds specialist Paul Moloney from Mayer Brown. 

It contrasts with a trend among large international US law firms of shrinking their operations in China as a result of anaemic market conditions and simmering tensions between China and the West, although most of this activity has been focused on the mainland, with firms typically consolidating their China coverage in Hong Kong.

Last year, at least 14 leading US law firms announced office closures in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong, among them Milbank, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Morrison & Foerster, Sidley Austin, Weil and Orrick. So far this year, Cleary has announced it will close its Beijing office, while Morgan Lewis has closed the Shenzhen office it opened less than two years ago.