-U.S.-founded law firm Dechert is considering closing its offices in Hong Kong and Beijing, becoming the latest foreign firm to scale back in Greater China, two people said, amid a prolonged capital market downturn and growing Sino-U.S. tensions.
If the move from China is finalised, Dechert's Asia footprint will be limited to Singapore, which has 14 lawyers including six partners. Several other large U.S. law firms have also announced closures of some of their China offices or scaled down their offerings in the world's second-largest economy since last year.Morrison & Foerster said last week that it is winding down its Beijing office as its lease there ends later this year. It said most of its work in China is already being handled by lawyers in Shanghai, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Dechert said in May last year that it was laying off 55 lawyers and 43 business professionals, equivalent to 5% of its global workforce.