The Asia Pacific Law Firm Brand Index of domestic and international firms was compiled from the unprompted responses of 379 in-house counsel in organisations in Asia-Pacific with revenues over $50m US.
KWM’s top ranking was secured as a result of high scores across the majority of categories which include awareness of and favourability towards the firm and consideration for top-level litigation, major M&A, multijurisdictional deals and litigation and high value work.
The findings demonstrate particularly high levels of awareness and favourability towards KWM in Australia and China, reflecting the firm’s unrivalled strength and depth of capability in these markets.
Stuart Fuller, Global Managing Partner of King & Wood Mallesons, said, “As the first global law firm to be headquartered in Asia, King & Wood Mallesons is challenging the accepted thinking about the future of global law firms and we have uniquely positioned ourselves in what has been a very crowded landscape. These results, which recognise the firm’s newly-expanded global footprint, are a positive endorsement of our unique strategy and reflect KWM’s combined focus offering clients both international and domestic expertise.”
The Acritas data revealed that firms which are able to offer detailed local knowledge and full service international capabilities are in prime position to meet the complex needs of rapidly globalising clients. The report acknowledged that KWM’s strong result was ‘testament to the success of its ground-breaking mergers over the past two years.’
In 2013 KWM ranked in 15th position in the Acritas Sharplegal Global Elite Brand Index, jumping 25 places since 2010.