Moore becomes first lateral hire in firm’s 125-year history
It had been well telegraphed but even so news that Slaughter and May was making the first lateral hire in its 125-year history to add US securities capability to its Hong Kong arm was enough to send a minor jolt through the global legal profession.
Slaughters unsurprisingly chose a top-notch CV to break with tradition, hiring Morrison & Foerster’s co-head of China capital markets John Moore. Moore, who joined the UK firm in February as its 12th Hong Kong partner, is the former head of the US capital markets team for Herbert Smith and has also previously held senior roles at Sullivan & Cromwell and Goldman Sachs.
The move is a direct response to the recent vogue for leading Wall Street advisers like Davis Polk & Wardwell to move into Hong Kong law, cutting off Slaughters’ natural referral partners.
‘Over the last few years a few of those Wall Street firms felt that they wanted a bigger piece of the Hong Kong pie and to expand the scope of their legal offering to include Hong Kong law,’ says Peter Brien, senior partner of Slaughters’ Hong Kong office.
‘Freshfields [Bruckhaus Deringer] and the rest of the Magic Circle have their own US capability, Davis Polk and Sullivan & Cromwell have their own Hong Kong capability. So we were able to meet a very specific demand of the local Hong Kong market for having US equity capital markets (ECM) capability for Hong Kong transactions,’ adds Brien.
Another issue that prompted the move was the change in attitude of Hong Kong underwriters. ‘The local investment banks, having in the past accepted two law firms working on the same transaction, felt the market had changed significantly and we were the only firm who needed to work with another firm because everybody else could work in isolation,’ concedes Brien.
The move also reflects the curious nature of Slaughters’ Hong Kong practice. Having been the first City firm to launch locally in 1974, the outpost is a notable exception to Slaughters’ UK law focus, a contrast heightened during the 2000s by its withdrawal from French law and the closure of liaison offices in New York and Singapore.
However, with Hong Kong emerging as a credible strategic finance hub, Slaughters has built a well-regarded practice thanks to high-profile partners like Benita Yu. The move also highlights the underlying confidence in Hong Kong despite a turbulent 2012 and 2013 in the local market, which is dependent on the volatile equity securities sector.
Though Slaughters remains focused on organic growth, Moore’s hire also marks a period in which the firm is hoping to expand its Asian practice. Practice partner Paul Olney comments: ‘You won’t see teams of hires but we do need to build [the firm’s Asia practice] out.’ The firm has also this year made up two associates to partner in Hong Kong: corporate and securities specialist Clara Choi and its first competition partner in the region, Natalie Yeung.
Interestingly, Slaughters has ruled out a similar move into US securities work in London despite the steady expansion of New York advisers into European law, reflecting the City firm’s cultural inclinations and commitments to growing its own. But whether that absolutist position can credibly endure in London is another question entirely.