Originally Posted by Unregistered

Can confirm on your point on counsel dynamics in M&A. I work in an international bank advising on M&A and Big 4(D&N, WongP, R&T, A&G) Lawyers are ONLY retained as local counsel on deals, and typically only when either the sell or buy side is HQed in Singapore. In my time here I have not seen any of the local Big 4 being retained as international lead counsel on any significant cross border deals. There might be one or two small sub-200mn deals where there is an exception but by and large my bosses and our clients prefer the Freshfields, A&O or linklaters guys to take point on the most complicated transaction negotiations.

With this by no means am I implying that Big 4 lawyers are subpar, but the trend is perhaps more a reflection of the truly international capabilities and slick navigation of complex issues that commonly arise in cross border transactions that the Magic Circle offer a lot more confidence in. In fact, most of the MC firms frequently send their antitrust and regulatory control teams down to our office to train our bankers on regional developments and key authorities (esp with the uncertainty of Mofcom). I remember always being impressed (and still am) by how they seemingly effortlessly have a grip of the broader global regulatory environment yet still wielding an in depth understanding of technicalities at the country level.