We received the following high-level intelligence from an anonymous AAR spy last week (thanks for the excellent tip-off!):
Two things from AAR. They will be closing their Phnom Penh and Bangkok offices later this year. Both will close for new business by late November and will be closed completely by the 31st of December. They are about to announce a restructuring of their Secretarial Services. Gwenyth Taylor will take over as head of Secretarial Services. All people who occupy current Secretarial Services management positions will either have to apply for the one available position as Gwenyth’s assistant or be made redundant. The people who assist the current management will be offered secretarial positions or they too will be redundant. This is to happen in the next week or so.
If the rumoured closures are true, one wonders whether Allens will be forced to update its graduate recruitment paraphernalia, which grandly asserts:
An exciting aspect of working at Allens is the global scope of the work we do for our clients. This means that you could have the opportunity to do client work that requires you to spend some time in another office in… Asia… It could see you living and working in another city or country for an extended period. Working in another office is a valuable opportunity to add to your professional development by meeting new people and developing your networks, building your profile among colleagues and clients, and learning new skills. Of course, there is also the exciting experience of living in another city or country!
The firm might also need to reassess the following claim on its “offices” page:
Allens Arthur Robinson offers one of the most comprehensive legal networks in Asia.
Both the Bangkok and Phnom Penh offices have only one partner, so thankfully the rumoured closures wont signal major job losses.
Send the Firm Spy your news and view!
Update: Our good pals at ROF have since contacted Allens who have
“refused to deny rumours that its Bangkok and Phnom Penh offices will be closing by the end of the year. So, we’ll assume it’s a confirmation then”.
Roll On Friday goes on to point out that Allens has been on the ground in Bangkok for over a decade and will instead be re-focussing its resources in Singapore. If true, Allens staff will be exchanging full-moon parties and those delicious, vodka/red-bull buckets for exorbitant Singaporean alcohol prices and err… hanging for drug use. Sounds like a terrific deal!
[Update No: 2 - we received the following comments from an anonymous AAR spy last week:
Rumour is that AAR is closing its Shanghai office as well. It had 4 partners there and is now down to a consultant who is also shown as being in Beijing.]
Loading...
They should close the PRC and HK offices too – all are loss-making businesses and some will not even have a partner on the ground from 2011 …
Claire – I think you’re wrong. Word on the street is that HK is one of the strongest offices for AAR and partner count is going to increase over the next 18 months
Word is that the AAR Vietnam offices are rather quiet too, and seem top-heavy with at least 3 partners and several other senior foreign lawyers. In 2009 almost everybody in the AAR Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City offices was forced to work part-time. Now how will those offices fit into the new strategy of focusing resources on Singapore?
Anonymous – HK has been bleeding staff for the past 12 months. It doesn’t have much beyond an insurance litigation team. So obviously they would need to add partners from other areas if they want to have a service proposition that extends to more than insurance litigation.