King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is the largest global law firm in Asia. It has 30 offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Its predecessor firms include ''

SJ Berwin SJ Berwin LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. SJ Berwin merged with the Hong Kong-headquartered law firm King & Wood Mallesons on 1 November 2013, becoming the fourth member of its Swiss Verein structure. SJ ...

'' of the United Kingdom's "'' Silver Circle''", ''

Mallesons Stephen Jaques King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is the largest global law firm in Asia. It has 30 offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Its predecessor firms include ''SJ Berwin'' of the United Kingdom's ...

'', one of the " ''Big Six''" leading Australian law firms, and ''King & Wood'', one of the "''

Red Circle Red Circle may refer to: * Red Circle (law firms), a group of elite Chinese law firms * Red Circle (publishing), Martin Goodman's group of pulp magazine publishing corporations * Red Circle (typeface) a typeface based on the c. 1930 packaging of ...

''".

History

Predecessor firms

Mallesons Stephen Jaques

Mallesons Stephen Jaques was an Australian

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

which originated in 1832 and was one of the " Big Six" law firms in Australia. 'Mallesons' derives from the name of the predecessor firm's founding partner; Alfred Brooks Malleson. Malleson was born at Richmond Hill, on the

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

side of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in 1831. As a 25-year-old London solicitor he immigrated to Melbourne in 1856. Malleson's obituary in '' The Argus'' in 1892 recorded that his expertise was especially "in company law and in the banking business. Several of the associated banks entrusted their legal affairs to the firm, as well as a large number of leading insurance and other companies, so that Mr Malleson had always as much as he could do". In 1858, the firm (then called "Muttlebury Malleson and Coster") handled the legal work to establish The National Bank of Australasia, which remains one of the firm's key clients as the present-day

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

. The "Stephen" part of the firm's former name comes from Sydney founder Montague Stephen. He was the second son of Sir

Alfred Stephen Sir Alfred Stephen (20 August 180215 October 1894) was an Australian judge and Chief Justice of New South Wales. Early life Stephen was born at St Christopher in the West Indies. His father, John Stephen (1771–1833), was related to James S ...

, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1844 to 1873. Montague Stephen founded a Sydney practice in 1849. One of his earliest (1853) clients was the "Australian Mutual Provident Society" (

AMP Limited AMP is a financial services company in Australia and New Zealand providing superannuation and investment products, financial advice, and banking products (through AMP Banking) including home loans and savings accounts. Its headquarters is in Sy ...

) which remains one of the modern firm's key clients. The "Jaques" part of the firm's name comes from a second "Alfred" - Alfred Jaques. He became a partner of the Sydney firm in 1878. In 1888 the firm's name changed to Stephen Jaques & Stephen - a name which continued until the 1980s. In 1976, Stephen Jaques & Stephen established its London office. In 1982, it merged with Stone James of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The merged firm was called "Stephen Jaques Stone James". Stone James had been established in 1832 by Alfred Stone,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

's first solicitor. The merger reflected a growing importance of Western Australian primary industries as clients to the firm. In 1987, Stephen Jaques Stone James merged with Mallesons. The firm was renamed "Mallesons Stephen Jaques". The 1987 merger was driven by an assessment that Sydney and Melbourne had become one legal market. The merger enabled the firm to look after clients in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra. In 1989, the firm opened an office in Brisbane. The firm opened a Hong Kong office in 1989, and a Beijing office in 1993. It established an alliance with Posman Kua Aisi Lawyers of

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in 1995. In 2004 the firm strengthened its Beijing resources by taking on lawyers and support staff from

Denton Wilde Sapte Denton Wilde Sapte LLP (informally Dentons) was an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It merged with the United States-based law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in September 2010, forming SNR Denton. At the time ...

. Later that year Mallesons merged with the Hong Kong and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

corporate boutique Kwok & Yih.

King & Wood PRC Lawyers

King & Wood was among the first law firms established in the People’s Republic of China during the modern era. In April, 1993, King & Wood’s founding partners were still working with a state-sponsored organization, the

China Council for the Promotion of International Trade The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (; CCPIT) is a trade body founded in 1952. It also goes by the name of the China Chamber of International Commerce (, CCOIC). CCPIT is under the Ministry of Commerce. The CCPIT develops bu ...

, when the central government permitted private ownership of law firms, allowing them to create the firm. The firm’s clients included

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

China Life China Life Insurance Company Limited (short China Life, ) is a Beijing-headquartered China-incorporated company that provides life insurance and annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Step ...

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

PetroChina PetroChina Company Limited () is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. The company is currently Asia's largest oil and gas pr ...

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world. The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...

, the

Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, or BOCOG, also known as the Beijing Organizing Committee, was an informal name for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. It was also the organizin ...

of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. Prior to merging with Mallesons Stephen Jacques, King & Wood was aligned with Australian law firm

Gilbert + Tobin Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

SJ Berwin

SJ Berwin was founded by lawyer Stanley J. Berwin 1982. From 1992 the firm underwent a strategy of European expansion. In 2009 the firm opened three offices in Hong Kong, Dubai and Shanghai respectively.

Merger

King & Wood Mallesons formed on 1 March 2012 as a combination of Chinese firm ''King & Wood PRC Lawyers'' and Australian firm ''Mallesons Stephen Jaques'', following votes in November 2011. In 2013 a merger was announced between King & Wood Mallesons and the UK Silver Circle firm

. The firm used a

Swiss Verein A Swiss association ("''Verein''" in German, "association" in French, "associazione" in Italian) is a type of corporation in Swiss law. It is similar to the Anglo-American voluntary association. Unlike in Germany, a Swiss association does not need ...

structure, and had four financially independent partnerships: Australia; Europe and the Middle East; Hong Kong; and

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the United States.

Demise of KWM Europe

In 2016 a substantial number of important partners at KWM Europe left the firm, and attempts to find merger partners failed. It was subsequently announced the firm was being advised by external administrators. In November 2016 a memorandum was circulated to European partners of KWM outlining terms of a potential 'bail out' under which they would have to commit to a 12 month lock-in period, and provide capital to the firm. Additional capital would be provided by the Chinese arm of the business. This deal failed to win approval, and by the end of November KWM announced it would merger its European partnership. The law firms of

Goodwin Procter Goodwin Procter LLP is a global law firm. It is one of the largest law firms in the world as measured by revenue and consists of more than 1,800 lawyers across offices in Boston, Cambridge, Frankfurt, Munich, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Luxemb ...

and

Covington & Burling Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. In 2021, Vault.com ranked Covington & Burling as th ...

were in discussions to hire key partners from KWM Europe. In January 2017, the European arm became subject to administration and ceased operations. The Australian, Chinese, and Hong Kong portions of KWM, which are financially and legally separate, were otherwise unaffected.

Contemporary firm

Following the end of KWM Europe's operations, the firm established a new business to maintain a strategic presence in the UK, Europe & the Middle East to service the needs of its global clients. KWM now has core practices in London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Brussels and Dubai. New companies of the KWM network have been established in the UK (KWM Europe LLP) and Germany (KWM Europe Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH). The new European platform focuses on Corporate M&A, Finance, Competition and Dispute Resolution and has more than 30 partners, together with associates and support staff.

Operations

Finances

In 2012-13, the firm's total global revenue was US$1 billion, with revenue per lawyer of US$453,000 in China, and profit per equity partner of AU$1.08 million in Australia and £610,000 in Europe.

Pro bono

King & Wood Mallesons has a community impact practice which supports the community through pro bono legal services, community services, and philanthropy. In 2021, more than 91% of the firm's Australian lawyers took part in pro bono work, contributing over 54,000 pro bono hours. The firm is a long-time partner of Youth Law Australia, a community legal centre that provides free legal services to children and young people across Australia. The firm provides a full-time solicitor on secondment to Youth Law Australia and the firm's solicitors also volunteer as part of the Cyber Volunteer Program. Other organisations supported by the firm's pro bono services include: homeless law clinics, refugee legal clinics, and the Arts Law Centre. TalkLaw is the firm's community legal education initiative which educates disadvantaged high school students across Australia about legal topics relevant to young people. The KWM School of Opportunity provides disadvantaged young people with a work placement and skills development program.

Notable cases and transactions

Australia

Merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

Glencore Glencore plc is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey. The current company was c ...

and

Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...

. *Advised Square Inc (now Block Inc) on its A$39 billion acquisition of Afterpay Ltd, the largest M&A deal in Australian history. *Advised Lygon on the creation of the world's first digital bank guarantee using blockchain technology. *Advised Woolworths on its A$400 billion green loan, the first supermarket in the world to issue certified green bonds. *Advised

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the ...

on its A$1.4 billion sustainability-linked loan, the first syndicated sustainability-linked loan in Australia and the largest in Asia-Pacific.

China

*Advised on the

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. *Sole legal advisor to the Beijing Organising Committee of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. *Advised

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

with respect to an antimonopoly investigation by the

State Administration for Industry and Commerce Prior to March 2018, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC; ) was the authority in the People's Republic of China responsible for advancing legislation concerning the administration of industry and commerce in the People's Repub ...

. *Advised

Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the la ...

on its HK$24 billion secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

United Kingdom

*Advised

Lion Capital LLP Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm specialising in investments in the consumer sector. Previous and current consumer brands owned by Lion have included Weetabix, Jimmy Choo, Wagamama, Kettle Foods and AllSaints. The firm is head ...

on a string of deals including the on the acquisition of fashion chain

AllSaints AllSaints is a British fashion retailer headquartered in London, UK.La Ferla, Ruth,The Romance of Jack the Ripper, ''New York Times'', 8 June 2010.Smith, Adam,", ''Fast Company'', 1 October 2010.Kaupthing Kaupthing Bank ( is, Kaupþing banki; ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic ...

and

Glitnir Forseti (Old Norse "the presiding one", "President (government title), president" in modern Icelandic language, Icelandic and Faroese language, Faroese) is the Æsir, god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identifie ...

, and the £1.4 billion acquisition of French frozen food business Picard Surgelés.

Awards and Recognition

Awards and recognition include: * Australian Law Firm of the Year, Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards (2020) * Chinese Law Firm of the Year, Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards (2020) * Law Firm of the Year, Australasian Law Awards (2022) * Regional Law Firm of the Year, IFLR Asia Awards (2020, 2021) * Chambers Asia-Pacific Band 1 rankings across a record 21 practice areas * Largest International Law Firm in Hong Kong, ALB Asia Top 50 Rankings (2021)

Criticism

In 2018, WorkSafe Victoria launched an investigation into the firm, following complaints of overworked staff due to the high demands of working on the Banking Royal Commission. In response, the firm has pursued a cultural shift by introducing greater monitoring of workloads and staff wellbeing initiatives.

Notable alumni

The following list includes notable people who have worked at King & Wood Mallesons. Former Partners *

Jayne Jagot Jayne Margaret Jagot () is an Australian judge. She has been a Justice of the High Court of Australia since 17 October 2022. She was previously a judge of the Federal Court of Australia and before that of the Land and Environment Court of New S ...

– High Court of Australia Justice * Simon Steward – High Court of Australia Justice *

Geoffrey Nettle Geoffrey Arthur Akeroyd Nettle (born 2 December 1950) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy, who served from 3 February 2015 to 30 November 2020. Prior to his appointment to the ...

– former High Court of Australia Justice *

Lucy McCallum Lucy McCallum (born 1963) is the Chief Justice of the Australian Capital Territory and a former judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Early life and education McCallum was born in Sydney, NSW, one of five children of naval cipher off ...

– ACT Chief Justice * Julie Ward – NSW Court of Appeal President * Ashley Black – NSW Supreme Court Judge *

Kelly Rees Kelly Anne Rees is an Australian judge. She has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 5 September 2018. Rees was raised on her family's cattle farm in the Bellingen Valley and was dux of Bellingen High School. She studied at ...

– NSW Supreme Court Judge * Reginald Barrett – NSW Supreme Court Judge * Richard Weeks White – NSW Supreme Court Judge * Trish Henry – NSW Supreme Court Judge *

Patricia Bergin Patricia Anne Bergin is a former judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Early life and education Bergin was born in Sydney, NSW, the daughter of Olga and Denis Bergin, and went to school at Sacré Cœur, Kincoppal. Bergin attended ...

– former NSW Supreme Court Chief Judge in Equity *

Emilios Kyrou Emilios Kyrou is a judge of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria, in the Australian state of Victoria. Justice Kyrou was previously a justice in the Trial Division. Until being appointed, Kyrou was a partner at Mallesons Stephen Jaqu ...

– Victorian Supreme Court Judge * Joanne Cameron – former Victorian Supreme Court Judge *

Larissa Strk Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly modern regions of Greece, region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capit ...

– WA Supreme Court Judge * Michael Corboy – WA Supreme Court Judge

References

External links

King & Wood Mallesons websiteChina Law Insight blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:King and Wood Mallesons Law firms established in 2012 Law firms of Australia Law firms of China Law firms of Hong Kong Law firms of the United Kingdom Foreign law firms with offices in Japan Foreign law firms with offices in the United States Organizations established in 2012