Commenting on the move, Bryan Hughes, Eversheds chief executive said:

“The legal sector is in the eye of a perfect storm – we have been subjected to the most difficult trading conditions that any of us have ever faced leading to huge downward pressure on pricing. These pressures are only going to be compounded by anticipated deregulation in the wake of the Clementi reforms and our research tells us that fee levels are not going to return to those generated in previous years. Consequently, those firms that are going to survive, let alone thrive, are those that face up to the reality of the seismic change facing our sector and transform the manner in which legal services are delivered.

“We see the market pressures and regulatory changes as offering a progressive firm like ours, huge opportunities for the future. The price and budgetary squeeze resulting from the credit crunch has opened up considerable opportunities for Eversheds to take more strategic legal work from our competitors, one of our stated strategic objectives. However at the same time, we have the skill set to protect and expand the increasing demand for commoditised services, such as contract review and enforcement actions. The biggest complaint from general counsel is that law firms will not embrace change. That's not Eversheds' ethos.”

The setting up of the joint venture in South Africa is an extension of the firms 'networked law' approach in the UK which longstanding clients of the firm are already familiar with. Eversheds uses its network of offices to move work from higher cost centres to lower cost centres giving clients the benefit of a high quality service but delivered cost effectively.

via Eversheds LLP Press Office.

But not all of Asia is gloating. Missing altogether from Eversheds’ report is the city that’s most worried about losing ground to Shanghai: Hong Kong.

Obviously, such surveys are to be taken with a grain of salt; after all, over a tenth of Eversheds’ respondents predicted Dubai would emerge as the world’s preeminent financial center in decade’s time.

And Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with a separate local government and legal system, has been booming recently. So far this year, its exchange is leading the world in initial public offerings, mostly on behalf of mainland Chinese companies. It remains the preferred regional base for global banks and, consequently, international law firms.

Still, Hong Kong has long had a complex about Shanghai, which was the region’s preeminent financial center before falling under communist rule in 1949. Now that that same communist government has embraced capitalism, fears abound that Shanghai will be promoted at Hong Kong’s expense.

That anxiety was reflected in a Reuters article last week, in which one Hong Kong banker fretted that his city would become a second city — a Boston or a Chicago to Shanghai’s New York.

via Will Shanghai Overtake Hong Kong as World Financial Center?.