By King & Wood Mallesons
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) was recognised with two awards at the 2017 Financial Times Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards in Hong Kong last Thursday, including the prestigious ‘Innovation in Legal Expertise’ and ‘Innovation in the Business of Law’ categories.
KWM’s role on the World Bank’s first Special Drawing Rights (SDR) – denominated bond in the Chinese Inter-Bank Bond Market saw the firm win the Innovation in Legal Expertise category, against significant competition from leading global and regional law firms.
This matter represented the first SDR bond offering in China settled in RMB, with 500 million SDRs issued on 2 September 2016. The transaction expanded the use of SDRs, helped promote the development of China’s domestic capital market and further demonstrated the internationalisation of the Renminbi.
The firm also won the ‘Innovation in the Business of Law’ category for its DNA Smart Contracts initiative, a first of its kind smart contract solution that converges artificial and human intelligence to create value for clients and preserve the critical role of lawyers.
KWM’s new “DNA” framework combines the separate, but complimentary, digital and analogue strands of contact terms, utilising human judgement and machine automation to reduce risk and increase efficiency.
KWM was shortlisted in the ‘Most Innovative Law Firm’ (Asia-Pacific headquartered law firms), Most Innovative Law Firm in Australia and Most Innovative Law Firm in China categories in recognition of our firm-wide commitment to developing and implementing innovative legal solutions across the region. The firm ranked as the second most Innovative Law Firm in the Asia Pacific in the 2017 FT25 Asia Pacific Innovation Rankings which were released last Friday in conjunction with the awards.
Commenting on the firm’s achievements, KWM Global Chairman, Wang Jungfeng said our continued recognition in the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards is a significant honour for the firm, testament to our commitment to excellence and innovation, and our passion for delivering ground-breaking solutions for our clients.
“As the leading international law firm in Asia, KWM is constantly thinking differently and redefining what is possible to enable us to deliver exceptional business outcomes and service to our clients across the region,” added Global Managing Partner, Sue Kench.
The FT Innovative Lawyers Awards assess lawyers and legal firms on their innovation for clients and within their own businesses. They are accompanied by a special FT Innovative Lawyers Report published in the Financial Times. The report ranks the top 25 Asia-Pacific firms in the region, with KWM ranked second for 2017.