International law firm Clifford Chance is closing its Bangkok office and ending its association in Indonesia. The company will now focus on its Southeast Asia practice out of Singapore.
The winding down of the Bangkok office is expected to take more than a year, while the association with Jakarta-based Linda Widyati & Partners (LWP) will end in October 2017, when partner Linda Widyati retires.
The firm currently has 26 lawyers, including three partners in Bangkok, where Clifford Chance opened in 1996. The office head is Fergus Evans, who has been with the firm since 1993, the M&A partner is Andrew Matthews and the banking partner is Joseph Tisuthiwongse.
Transition Plan
A decision has not been made as to what will happen to the staff in the Bangkok office. «We have only just informed our staff and clients and we will be talking with our people over the coming weeks about the transition plan,» said Asia-Pacific managing partner Geraint Hughes, who took over as the firm’s Asia-Pacific managing partner last September.
Prior to taking on the regional managing partner role, Hughes managed the Singapore office for six years. In Singapore, the financial and wealth management hub for Southeast Asia, CC currently has 86 lawyers, including 23 partners.
