Allen & Overy today announces its intention to open two offices in Vietnam following receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals and the strategic hire of leading Vietnamese lawyer, Dao Nguyen.
The Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi offices further strengthen the firm's platform and strategy in Asia. The launch also underlines its commitment to continued investment in high growth markets such as Vietnam.The offices are expected to open in the third quarter of 2012 and Dao Nguyen, currently managing partner of Mayer Brown JSM (Vietnam), will join later in the year as managing partner for Vietnam.
Simon Makinson, head of Allen & Overy's Indochina practice added: “We are delighted to be announcing the appointment of Dao, who has succeeded in establishing the leading commercial legal practice in Vietnam. Her experience both in Vietnam and the wider region will be invaluable to us and our clients, and she will strengthen the regional team which continues to focus on tapping the huge opportunities across a number of sectors, particularly energy, infrastructure and M&A.”
The addition of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will take Allen & Overy's network to 42 offices in 29 countries around the world – the largest global footprint among the leading global law firms. The ASEAN community is currently at 600 million people, the second largest grouping of countries after the EU. Since 1986, Vietnam's economy has posted annual per capita growth of 5.3 percent. Despite the recent volatility in global markets, China is the only Asian economy to have grown faster than Vietnam since 2000.