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Luthra & Luthra
Hutabarat Halim & Rekan
Managing partner: Rajiv K Luthra Number of fee earners: 153 Asian offices: Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai Summary: Of all the firms catalogued by ALB in this feature, no other firm has experienced such impressive growth as Indian firm Luthra & Luthra. Not only did it manage to increase partner and fee-earner numbers by 130% and 39% respectively, it also managed to increase revenue during this period by almost 70%. These are pretty good statistics in their own right but they are even more impressive considering the restrictions on partner numbers, advertising and marketing imposed on law firms in the subcontinent. Nominated in no less than six categories at the 2008 ALB South East Asian Law Awards, the firm worked on some of the country’s most complex and significant deals during the year, including DLF’s structured finance transactions for which it was awarded Structured Finance and Securitisation Deal of the Year. Not only did the firm open a new tax office in this period but it also greatly expanded its corporate offering, increasing headcounts in its antitrust/competition, real estate and IP departments – a sure sign of things to come from this firm in 2009.
Managing partners: Nini Halim, Pheo Hutabarat Number of partners/total fee earners: 5/18 Asian offices: Batam, Jakarta Summary: It is a story of sustained growth for this burgeoning Indonesian commercial firm. It now boasts a list of international clients that it is the envy of much larger firms in the archipelago, including PT Duta Wisaka Loka, Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Berhad, Sindicatum Carbon Capital, PT. Indomobil Sukses Internasional Tbk, Turner Broadcasting Systems and Pikko Group. The firm acted on the development of one of Jakarta’s most prominent entertainment precincts – the Taman Ria Senayan – and was counsel on the development of Crystal Square in Medan, which will be one of the largest and most modern mixed-use complexes, comprising offices, hotels, apartments, shopping malls and an entertainment centre. And it’s this high-calibre cross-border work that is behind the firm’s growth figures for the 2007–08 financial year, notably the 21% boost to revenue figures over the same period last year. Watch out for further growth from HHR this year as the firm seeks to expand its already sizeable number of blue-chip clients and challenge the ascendancy of the larger firms in the marketplace.
BT Partnership Managing partner: Rahmat Bastian Number of fee earners: 15 Asian offices: East Java*, Hong Kong*, Jakarta (*Representative office) Summary: ALB sat down with BT’s managing partner, Rahmat Bastian, earlier this year to discuss its evolution from a niche commercial practice to one of the more reputable firms in Indonesia. “We are continually growing in terms of headcount and in matters handled, so growth is definitely a work in progress,” he said. “Moving from a boutique firm to almost close to a full-service firm has been very quick … but we are still looking to become bigger and better.” This is seen in BT’s figures for the 2007-08 financial year when partner numbers at the firm exploded by 100% and fee earners too, by 25% – figures that are behind BT’s increase in revenue by 25% in this period. An increase in its client portfolio this year and a number of new recruits at all levels is highly probable this year and the latter should be made easier by the fact that BT was crowned ALB’s Indonesia Employer of Choice for 2008.
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Melli Darsa & Co Managing partner: Melli Darsa Number of partners/fee earners: 5/31 Asian office: Jakarta Summary: The firm that started as a splinter of Indonesian heavyweight Hadiputranto Hadinoto & Partners in 2002 has now become a force to be reckoned wth in itself. Although numbers in the firm’s two-tier partner system remained static during this period, in the 2007-08 financial year, those of associates and junior solicitors increased by 21% and, from June 2003 to the present, the number of fee earners went up nearly 420%. At this time, the firm also enhanced its already strong reputation as a large-deal firm by representing Lehman Brothers in the issuance of 11.25% guaranteed senior notes due 2013 by Mobil-8 Telecom Finance Company B.V., guaranteed by PT Mobile-8 Telecom, in reliance of Regulation S. Its crowning achievement, however, was its representation of Temasek in the sale of BII to Malayan Banking Bhd for US$1.5 billion. The complexity, quantum and value of these deals was no doubt a major factor behind the firm’s revenues increasing by over 71% this period.
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Managing partner: Kunihiko Morishita Number of fee earners: 257 Asian offices: Beijing, Tokyo Summary: Anderson Mori already boasted an impressive cache of lawyers before its 2005 merger with Tomotsume Kimura but, since then, this firm has truly established itself as one of the more formidable firms in Japan, through a growth policy predicated on organic growth. In the 2007–08 financial year the firm not only bolstered its partner ranks with five new additions – an increase of nearly 9% – but also reinforced its number of fee earners by almost 17%. The firm has boosted its many practice groups throughout this period with regular associate hires, the most recent of which saw it add 10 fresh graduates in September, a move which will no doubt keep it ahead of the pack in a tight employment market. Asian Legal Business ISSUE 8.12