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Harney Westwood & Riegels
Harneys: An offshore firm with global reach
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arneys is one of the leading offshore law firms with offices in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, London and Hong Kong. Harneys has 56 lawyers globally, and over 200 staff in total.
Addition of a Cayman Practice
Michael Gagie
Harneys recently opened its Cayman Islands office via a merger with Cayman Islands firm CS Gill & Co. Harneys partners Kieron O’Rourke and Tim Clipstone have relocated to Cayman and the firm is building Cayman legal teams for its offices in London and here in Hong Kong. “Our intention in providing Cayman advice is to enable us to better serve both existing and potential clients. In Asia, we recognize that clients are using corporate vehicles established in either one or both of BVI and Cayman for particular types of transactions or business/product lines and we believe there is substantial demand from clients for an alternative to existing Cayman law providers in the market,” says Michael Gagie, the head of the Hong Kong office.
Hong Kong Office Harneys has been providing legal services to Asian clients for over 20 years and opened its Hong Kong office in February 2005. Key practice areas for the Hong Kong office include banking & structured finance, corporate, M&A and investment funds services. Since opening, Harneys’ Hong Kong office has experienced good growth in terms of workflow, doubling its revenue last year and will be adding two new lawyers over the coming quarter, according to Gagie. “Having a physical presence in Asia has really benefited our business not only in terms of raising both our profile and share of work in the region, but it has helped us to understand better
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what clients need in this region and we have responded to that.”
Client Services Gagie says that Harneys distinguishes itself from the other firms by providing the same level of excellent client service to all clients, ranging from leading international businesses and banks, to local private companies and individuals. “In Asia, we understand that speed of response, provision of real time advice and competitive pricing are key criteria for clients looking for legal advisers and as a service provider, we work hard to fulfill those expectations for all our clients.” Gagie also believes that his firm’s increased focus on the ‘BRIC’ (Brazil, Russian, India and China) and emerging market economies will, in the longer term, pay dividends both for the firm and its clients wherever they are: “A number of our recently recruited lawyers were targeted by us for their legal and linguistic backgrounds. We are working towards having full service teams of lawyers who themselves come from those jurisdictions which have an increasing demand for offshore services and who understand the local market requirements and conditions. Our recent hire of Chetan Nagadra, a senior Indian lawyer, is a good example of this.”
Harney Westwood & Riegels 1507 The Center 99 Queen's Road Central Central Hong Kong Michael Gagie, Partner Email: michael.gagie@harneys.com Phone: 852 3607 5300
Asian Legal Business ISSUE 8.9