King & Wood Mallesons - a major international law firm on the importance of its London base

King & Wood Mallesons is the world's largest international law firm based in the Asia Pacific region with over 2,000 lawyers spread across 27 locations. The result of the merger in 2012 between Chinese firm King & Wood and Australia's Mallesons Stephen Jaques, the firm offers a wide array of legal services including banking and finance, corporate and commercial, tax, real estate and employment law.

We spoke to Wang Rongkang, EU Managing Partner of King & Wood Mallesons, about the firm's expansion plans and the importance of its London office.

What does your company do?

“We are the largest international law firm based in Asia with over 600 partners across the world. We are the result of a merger of King & Wood in China and Mallesons in Australia. We are headquartered in Asia Pacific with an extensive network of international offices. We service local and international clients and we look to follow our clients around the world.”

“It is very important to have a presence in the UK because of its position as a major financial centre. It is crucial.”

Tell us about your presence in the UK.

“We now have almost 70 people in our London office. The reason we are in London is because we see a large amount of Asia investment into Europe as well as into the UK. This is why we have established in the UK as well as four other European cities. Many of our existing clients in China, Australia and the Hong Kong region are interested in investment and M&A transactions in Europe and the UK.” 

Because of our leading position in the Asia Pacific region, our London office also serves to promote our services to the British business community for their potential investment into the Asia market.

It is very important to have a presence in the UK - for our Asian clients and for our existing clients who have already made investments in London - because of its position as a major financial centre. It is crucial.

London is the leader in many advanced initiatives such as the Green Finance Initiative and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments. So, from London, we can work with the UK government and UK institutions in these advanced areas.

Many clients also understand that English law has a strong basis particularly in the area of dispute resolution. The judicial system here is more mature and more advanced.”

What are your firms expansion plans?

“We will continue to expand our international footprint according to client demand. For our operations in Europe, we see London as the key. We have doubled the size of our London office since 2017 and we have plans to reinforce our corporate capabilities and to expand into other practice areas.”

“We have doubled the size of our London office since 2017 and we have plans to reinforce our corporate capabilities and to expand into other practice areas.”