Baker McKenzie has been named the No. 1 legal brand in the Asia Pacific region for the third consecutive year, according to the Acritas Asia Pacific Brand Index 2019.

The firm has also grown its lead at the top of the table significantly. Awareness and favourability growth in Hong Kong/China has helped to drive this increased lead, although Baker McKenzie has generated favourability amongst buyers in all of the key Asian Pacific markets where the survey was run.

Also of note was Baker McKenzie’s strength in the high value transactional space, where the Firm also moved to lead position.

“In addition to industry leading legal expertise, the legal services buyer of today expects commerciality, responsiveness, an ability to meet key procurement requirements, and overall a partner that helps to advance their business interests and capture key opportunities when they arise,” says Ai Ai Wong, chair, Asia Pacific, Baker McKenzie. “It is gratifying to see our strength in high value work, particularly transactional work, being recognized so clearly this year; on average we lead and close three major transactions somewhere in the world every day, and we are using that global expertise to help leading companies grow and succeed across the region’s diverse and fast changing markets.”

According to Acritas, legal departments are spending more of their budget on international work in the Asia Pacific region overall, much of focused on work between various Asia Pacific jurisdictions.