For legal leaders in Asia, 2019 was a milestone year. It was the start of global law firm partners based in the region finally being elevated to the highest positions of their firms.
In October, Baker McKenzie’s Hong Kong managing partner Milton Cheng took over as the global firm’s first-ever Asia-based global chairman. And just weeks before the end of 2019, Herbert Smith Freehills announced it had appointed Justin D’Agostino, who heads the firm’s Asia and U.S. businesses as well as its global disputes practice from Hong Kong, as its next chief executive officer. D’Agostino, who previously managed the Anglo-Australian firm’s Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai offices, will begin serving his four-year term as HSF’s chief executive in May.
