Forget Dubai. A recent survey by Eversheds predicts Shanghai will overtake London as a world financial center within the decade. But do London lawyers stand to lose the most – or Hong Kong’s? And will we see the largest increase in Shanghai legal recruitment or in Hong Kong legal recruiting?
Some in Hong Kong are worried, but should they be?
Hong Kong has been booming. Its exchange has had more public offerings than any other in the world. It’s a banking power with a well-developed and trusted legal system.
But Shanghai was Hong Kong before Hong Kong was Hong Kong. Before the communists took over in 1949, Shanghai was the area’s leading financial center. With communists still in charge, will they keep their largesse on the mainland?
Still, Shanghai has a long way to go in setting up the appropriate infrastructure – a well-educated population of English speakers, a stable legal system, a convertible currency — and some think 10 years is too soon.
And, as Anthony Lin points out, “such surveys [as Eversheds’] are to be taken with a grain of salt; after all, over a tenth of Eversheds’ respondents predicted Dubai would emerge as the world’s preeminent financial center in decade’s time.”
