[ News Article ]
Duane Morris Considers Singapore
By Gina Passarella
April 4, 2006
The Legal Intelligencer
Duane Morris is considering plans to open its second international office - this time in Singapore - within one year, according to firm chairman Sheldon Bonovitz.
He said there is no commitment to open the office at this point. The idea is more than just that, however, as the firm has already lined up corporate and international partner Eduardo Ramos-Gómez to spearhead the effort.
Ramos-Gómez is currently based out of the firm's New York office, but Bonovitz said he would relocate with the opening of a Singapore office.
Ramos-Gómez was the former Mexican ambassador to Singapore, Brunei and Burma.
Bonovitz said that was one of the reasons the firm is thinking about opening up an office there.
"Asia is increasingly more important to our international practice," Bonovitz said. "It's a natural venue for a firm with a broad international practice than to just practice in China."
He said there was not a specific office or practice area that he felt would benefit most from a Singapore location.
Jim Keating, of recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa's New York office, said Asia is a hot area for the firm, and particularly Singapore as well.
Keating said this move would be a smart one because of the firm's increasing presence in California, adding that it could help attorneys in both the California and New York offices.
The Singapore office would be opened with a number of recruitments, Bonovitz said, but would not specify the exact number.
The firm is not forgetting about its other office overseas either. Bonovitz said he is looking to expand the London location as well.
"We certainly have a commitment to our London office," he said. "We would expect to be aggressively growing" that office.
It's been almost six years since the firm opened the London office, and it currently houses 10 attorneys.
The buzz about a possible new office comes on the heels of Bonovitz's announced plan to nearly double the firm's size in the next few years.
Bonovitz said he wants to see the 600-attorney firm hit the 1,000-lawyer mark, and has plans on doing that within two to four years. He said it would most likely happen closer to the two-year range.
He said in an interview in March that the firm would most likely grow substantially through a merger, not lateral hires.
Building the firm through a merger would most likely happen in either Duane Morris' New York, Chicago or Washington, D.C., markets, Bonovitz said.
He said in March, however, that the firm had no plans to enter a new market.
Duane Morris ended 2005 on a high note with improved financials.
The firm's profits per equity partner rose 18.4 percent from $570,000 in 2004 to $675,000 in 2005. The firm increased the PPP while adding to its total number of equity partners by 6 percent, moving from 125 in 2004 to 133 in 2005.
It reported a 9.8 percent increase in gross revenue for 2005, up from $264 million to $290 million.
Revenue per lawyer went up 8 percent from $550,000 in 2004 to $595,000 in 2005.
None of the numbers provided to The Legal include changes from Duane Morris' merger with 75-attorney firm Hancock Rothert & Bunshoft. Of the firm's 75 attorneys, 60 made the move to Duane Morris. That merger became effective on Jan. 1.
Duane Morris isn't the only local firm who has been looking at the Asian market.
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary received approval from the Chinese Ministry of Justice in December 2005 to open a new office in Beijing. The office is not yet officially open. The firm does have, however, offices up and running in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand.
Morgan Lewis & Bockius recently opened up a Beijing office in February. That opening followed the formation of a third law firm, Morgan Lewis-TMI, based in Japan to focus on cross-border transactions in the country. The firm also has an office in Tokyo.
While Reed Smith has not reached the Asian market just yet, firm chairman Gregory B. Jordan has not been shy about his plans to enter the China marketplace.
Bonovitz said in an interview yesterday that there are no restrictions in Singapore that would cause the opening of an office there to be delayed by any significant amount of time.
This article originally appeared in The Legal Intelligencer and is republished here with permission from law.com.