Now Lawyers Are Suffering From China’s Deal Slump


中国这个全球第二大经济体曾是国际律师事务所的一大收入来源。由于预计中国交易活动将继续放缓，凯易等知名律所纷纷裁员。


很多裁员发生在香港，数年来香港证券交易所交易量一直在下降。

中国交易活动低迷先是伤害了华尔街银行。现在，律师们也感受到了这种痛苦，由于预计这种交易活动放缓将会延长，一些全球最大的律师事务所纷纷裁员。 6park.com
China’s dealmaking slump has already hurt Wall Street banks. Now, lawyers are feeling the pain, with some of the world’s biggest law firms laying off staff in anticipation of a prolonged slowdown. 6park.com
   
中国这个全球第二大经济体曾是国际律师事务所的一大收入来源，它们为中国科技公司安排海外股票发行，为负债累累的中国房地产开发商处理美元债券发行事宜。然而，由于经济增长放缓、中国政府进行一系列政策调整，加之地缘政治局势日益紧张，来自中国的交易活动实际上已经骤减。 6park.com
The world’s second-largest economy was once a major source of revenues for international law firms, who helped structure overseas share sales for Chinese technology companies and dollar bonds for property developers overloaded with debt. But deal flow from China has virtually collapsed, the result of a slowing economy, a series of policy shifts in Beijing, and an increasingly fraught geopolitical situation. 6park.com
   
凯易(Kirkland & Ellis)、美国德杰律师事务所(Dechert)、Norton Rose Fulbright、欧华律师事务所(DLA Piper)等跨国律师事务所最近纷纷裁员。在此之前的六个月里，香港和中国大陆出现了律所裁员潮，股票和债务资本市场领域的律师首当其冲。 6park.com
Kirkland & Ellis, Dechert, Norton Rose Fulbright and DLA Piper are among the multinational law firms that have recently made cuts. That followed earlier waves of layoffs in Hong Kong and mainland China over the past six months, which have particularly hit lawyers specializing in equity and debt capital markets.  6park.com
   
据知情人士透露，孖士打(Mayer Brown)最近几个月裁掉了驻香港的负责企业客户、基金和资本市场业务的律师。据其中一位知情人士称，2月下旬，该公司解雇了至少20名后台人员，其中包括房地产团队的律师助理。房地产是另一个面临低迷的市场。 6park.com
Mayer Brown has laid off Hong Kong-based lawyers covering corporate clients, funds and capital markets in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. In late February, the firm fired at least 20 support staff including paralegals on its real-estate team, another market facing a downturn, according to one of the people.  6park.com
   
“这是我所见过的企业资本市场领域规模最重大的裁员，上至合伙人，下至律师助理。我预计接下来还会有更多的裁员，”驻香港的前律师、合伙人级的法律猎头William Chan说。 6park.com
“This has been the most significant round of redundancies in corporate capital markets from the partner level down to associates that I’ve ever seen. I expect more to follow,” said William Chan, a former lawyer and partner-level legal headhunter based in Hong Kong. 6park.com
   
其中很多裁员发生在香港；数年来香港证券交易所交易量一直在下降，而此前该交易所曾一度为争夺“全球最繁忙交易所”的头衔向纽约和伦敦发起挑战。 6park.com
Many of the cuts occurred in Hong Kong, where the local stock exchange has suffered years of declining volumes after once challenging New York and London for the title of the world’s busiest exchange.  6park.com
   
据Dealogic，2023年，中国企业通过在香港IPO和二次上市融资57亿美元，同比下降54%，与2021年的412亿美元相去甚远。今年到目前为止，中国公司通过香港股市仅融资2.96亿美元。 6park.com
In 2023, Chinese IPOs and secondary listings in Hong Kong raised $5.7 billion, down 54% from the year before and a far cry from $41.2 billion raised in 2021, according to Dealogic. So far this year, Chinese companies have raised just $296 million from selling shares in Hong Kong.  6park.com
   
此前由中国房地产开发商主导的亚洲垃圾债券市场的规模也大幅缩小。据Dealogic，这些开发商在2021年通过发行美元债券融资230亿美元。去年这一数字降至6.8亿美元。 6park.com
Asia’s junk bond market, which was previously dominated by Chinese real-estate developers, has also collapsed. These developers raised $23 billion from dollar bond issuance in 2021, according to Dealogic. That fell to $680 million last year.  6park.com
   
高管猎头机构Carlyle Kingswood Global的亚洲管理合伙人David Roberts说：“几乎所有机构都在检视自己的资本市场团队，要么不更换人员，在相当长的一段时间内冻结人员数量，重新培训人员并将他们调往其他业务领域，要么默默解雇人手，甚至只是默默鼓励员工另谋高就。” 6park.com
“Virtually all firms have been looking at their capital markets teams and either not replacing people, having a head count freeze for quite a while, reskilling and moving people into other practice areas, or silently firing or even just silently encouraging their associates to look elsewhere,” said David Roberts, Asia managing partner at executive search firm Carlyle Kingswood Global. 6park.com
   
他说，削减资本市场业务是基于律所对未来几年市场状况的评估，但许多律所的团队也存在人员过多的问题，不再需要那么大规模的团队。 6park.com
The cuts on their capital markets practices are based on law firms’ assessments of market conditions for the next few years, but many also had overstaffed teams and no longer need them to be as big, he said. 6park.com
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在最近一波裁员潮之前，金杜律师事务所(King & Wood Mallesons)和年利达律师事务所(Linklaters)等在该地区开展业务的其他大型律所已在去年裁员。年利达去年在北京、上海和香港的分支机构裁减了30名律师。 6park.com
The latest wave of layoffs followed earlier cuts last year by other big law firms operating in the region, including King & Wood Mallesons and Linklaters. Linklaters laid off 30 lawyers in its Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong offices last year. 6park.com
    
为了应对来自中国公司海外交易的收入大幅减少的局面，华尔街银行去年也在裁员。根据Dealogic的计算，2023年投行从涉及中国公司的非人民币交易中获得的收入为7.44亿美元，是十年来的最低金额。 6park.com
Wall Street banks made their own job cuts last year, responding to a steep loss of revenue from working on overseas deals by Chinese companies. Investment banks earned $744 million from non-yuan deals involving Chinese companies in 2023, the lowest level in a decade, according to calculations by Dealogic. 6park.com
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本轮裁员潮是对香港的又一次打击，在过去几年里，香港对某些外国企业的吸引力已出现一定程度的下降。瑞士宝盛(Julius Baer)发布的一份有关2023年全球财富的报告显示，香港是全球法律服务费用最昂贵的城市。猎头Chan说，一些律所在竞标过程中采取更积极的举措，通过降低收费报价来赢得客户业务，而美国大型律所有时无法做到这一点，因为它们在全球范围内对每小时收费标准有更严格的规定。 6park.com
The cuts represent another blow to Hong Kong, which has lost some of its appeal to foreign businesses over the past few years. Hong Kong was the most expensive city in the world for legal services, according to a 2023 report on global wealth by Julius Baer. Law firms have been more aggressive in winning client business by reducing their fee quotes in the tender process, something the larger U.S. firms are sometimes unable to do due to stricter rules on the hourly rates they can charge around the world, said Chan, the headhunter. 6park.com
    
他表示：“现在已没有足够的IPO业务来保住所有人的饭碗。四年前，香港可以维持15家律所的业务。而现在，我认为只能维持四、五家律所的业务。现在是僧多粥少了。” 6park.com
“There isn’t enough IPO work to keep everybody sustained. Four years ago Hong Kong could sustain 15 law firms. Now I think it only keeps four or five law firms busy. There isn’t enough food to feed everybody now,” he said.


在过去几年里，香港对某些外国企业的吸引力已出现一定程度的下降。

凯易表示不对具体事务发表评论，但表示其亚洲资本市场团队仍是该地区最大的团队之一，拥有八名合伙人和30多名专业律师。年利达表示，为应对中国市场的长期低迷，该所决定减少律师人数，但仍有必要的实力为在中国的全球客户提供服务。 6park.com
Kirkland said it doesn’t comment on individual matters, but said that its Asia capital markets team remains one of the largest in the region with eight partners and over 30 fee earners. Linklaters said it decided to reduce the number of lawyers in response to the prolonged downturn in the China market but that it still has the strength needed to serve its global clients in the country. 6park.com
   
欧华律师事务所表示，最近几个月不同部门有少数人员离职，这属于“自然流失”，但也有新的招聘。一位发言人说：“我们不断评估我们的业务，以确保我们有合适的人员来满足客户的需求。” 6park.com
DLA Piper said a handful of people across different departments have left in recent months as part of a “natural churn” and that there have been new hires. “We continually assess our business to ensure we have the right people in place to meet our clients’ needs,” a spokesperson said. 6park.com
  
孖士打和金杜律师事务所没有回应置评请求。 6park.com
Mayer Brown and King & Wood Mallesons didn’t respond to requests for comment.  6park.com
   
并非所有驻香港的律师都处境不佳。招聘人员表示，从事诉讼、破产、重组以及为中国以外的亚洲地区创建投资基金的律师仍有大量业务。 6park.com
Not all lawyers in Hong Kong are suffering. There is still plenty of business for those working in litigation, insolvency, restructuring and the creation of investment funds for parts of Asia outside China, recruiters say.