Skadden: Why Its Most Complex Work Lands in Hong Kong / 世达（Skadden）：最复杂的活，为什么落在中国香港

Skadden: Why Its Most Complex Work Lands in Hong Kong

世达（Skadden）：最复杂的活，为什么落在中国香港

In October 2026, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP announced a 55-partner promotion class that, according to the firm’s managing partner, was the largest in its history.

2026 年 10 月，世达（Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP）公布了 55 人的合伙人晋升名单，按这家所执行合伙人的说法，是所史最大的一届。

That same month, Du Shu, who led SHEIN’s Hong Kong IPO, left Skadden. A promotion and a departure in the same month — can the same principle explain both?

也在这个月，牵头希音港股上市的杜枢离开了世达。晋升与出走撞在同一个月，同一个原则能同时解释这两件事吗？

01  Built on Proxy Fights

01  从代理权争夺起家

On April 1, 1948, Skadden opened in New York, founded by Marshall Skadden, Les Arps, and John Slate. That same year, Joe Flom became its first lawyer; in 1959, litigation lawyer Bill Meagher joined, completing the five surnames that still appear on the firm’s letterhead.

1948 年 4 月 1 日，世达在纽约开业，创始人是 Marshall Skadden、Les Arps 与 John Slate。同年，Joe Flom 成为它的第一位律师；1959 年，诉讼律师 Bill Meagher 入伙，今天信纸上的五个姓才凑齐。

The starting point was not a full-service firm. From the 1950s through the early 1960s, proxy contests were viewed in New York as unseemly work that the old-line “white-shoe” firms would not take — Skadden did. As the firm’s history page puts it, this body of work carried it to the hostile-takeover table in the 1970s and turned “clients’ most complex problems” into its product.

起点不是一家综合所。1950 年代到 1960 年代初，代理权争夺在纽约被视为不体面的活，老牌“白鞋”所（white-shoe firm）不接，世达接。按这家所历史页的写法，这批案子把它送上了 1970 年代敌意收购的牌桌，也让“客户最复杂的问题”成了它的产品。

Through the 1980s, Skadden’s lawyer headcount grew severalfold with its workload, and its departments expanded from transactions to restructuring, finance, real estate, mass torts, and securities litigation.

到 1980 年代，世达的律师人数随业务量成倍增长，部门从交易扩到重组、金融、房地产、大规模侵权与证券诉讼。

02  Offices Follow the Work

02  跟着活设办公室

Today Skadden has 21 offices across four continents: 10 in the United States, 5 in Asia, 5 in Europe, and 1 in the Middle East, with its headquarters in New York. The principle behind opening offices was set early: from 1973, client demand — not a spot that looked good on the map — brought it to other cities. Its first stop in Asia was Tokyo in 1987, earlier than its first office in Europe. The Abu Dhabi office, opened in January 2025, grew from three partners to seven.

今天世达在四个洲有 21 个办公室：美国境内 10 个，亚洲 5 个，欧洲 5 个，中东 1 个，总部在纽约。设办公室的原则写得很早：1973 年起，客户的需求把它带到别的城市，而不是地图上好看的地方。亚洲的第一站是 1987 年的东京，比它在欧洲的第一个办公室还早。2025 年 1 月开设的阿布扎比办公室，合伙人从三位做到七位。

The business core rests on three lines — transactions, disputes, and regulatory — which map to M&A and restructuring, litigation and arbitration, and antitrust and corporate investigations. In 2025, Skadden announced more than US$675 billion in M&A deal value. In an October interview, managing partner Jeremy London noted that the firm had won ten cases in six days earlier this year; in the same interview he placed the emphasis on artificial intelligence, data centers, and private capital. The map has kept shifting these two years: this past May, the Houston team moved into two floors of a Texas tower, doubling its previous space.

业务内核是三条：交易、争议、监管，对应的是并购与重组、诉讼与仲裁、反垄断与公司调查。2025 年，世达宣布的并购交易额超过 6750 亿美元。执行合伙人 Jeremy London 在 10 月的一篇访问里提到，今年年初在六天里赢了十场官司；同一篇访问里，他把重点放在人工智能、数据中心与私募资本上。版图这两年还在动：今年 5 月，休斯顿团队搬进德州大厦两层，比原办公室大了一倍。

03  Guomao and Central

03  国贸与中环

On the Chinese mainland, Skadden has only one representative office, approved on March 16, 1995, with chief representative Huang Xiaopei, located at Guomao (China World Trade Center). Under Articles 15 and 16 of the Regulations on the Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms (State Council Decree No. 338), a representative office may not practice Chinese law nor employ PRC-licensed lawyers; the Chinese-law half must be handed to a Chinese firm such as King & Wood Mallesons.

世达在中国内地只有一间代表处，1995 年 3 月 16 日获批，首席代表黄小霈，办公室在国贸。按《外国律师事务所驻华代表机构管理条例》（国务院令第 338 号）第十五条、第十六条，代表机构不得办中国法律事务，也不得聘用中国执业律师，中国法这一半只能交给金杜律师事务所这样的中国所。

What sustains the China practice sits in Central, Hong Kong. In the Chambers Greater China Region 2026 rankings, Skadden’s Capital Markets (Equity) sits in the second band for international firms. The China practice is co-led by two partners, both based in Hong Kong.

撑起中国业务的地方在中环。按 Chambers 大中华区 2026 年榜单，世达的资本市场（股权）列国际所第二档。中国业务由两位联席负责人共管，两人都常驻中国香港。

On September 1, 2026, SHEIN listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising approximately HK$13.2 billion — the largest cross-border e-commerce IPO in Hong Kong this year. Skadden acted as Hong Kong and U.S. counsel to the issuer, led by Beijing office managing partner Du Shu and another China practice co-head.

2026 年 9 月 1 日，希音在港交所主板上市，募资约 132 亿港元，是今年中国香港最大的跨境电商 IPO。世达任发行人的中国香港与美国法律顾问，由北京办公室管理合伙人杜枢与另一位中国业务联席负责人牵头。

A month later, Du Shu moved to Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in Hong Kong, building out its Asian capital markets practice. She was not the first to leave: in February 2025, Sun Kai went to King & Wood Mallesons Hong Kong; that same year, former Shanghai representative office head Wu Yuting went to Xiaohongshu (RED). Skadden closed its Shanghai representative office in 2024, folding the practice into Beijing; a Skadden spokesperson told China Business Law Journal (CBLJ) that it would retain its Hong Kong and Beijing offices, and did not respond to questions about partner arrangements at the Beijing representative office.

一个月后，杜枢转投威嘉（Weil, Gotshal & Manges），在中国香港任合伙人，组建其亚洲资本市场业务。她不是第一个走的：2025 年 2 月，孙凯去了金杜中国香港；同年，原上海代表处负责人武玉挺去了小红书。世达的上海代表处 2024 年关闭，业务并入北京；世达的发言人对《商法》表示会继续保留中国香港与北京的机构，未回应北京代表处合伙人安排的问题。

Hong Kong’s market is hardly cold: in the first three quarters of 2026, 116 new listings raised over HK$388 billion, more than double the same period a year earlier.

中国香港的行情并不冷：2026 年前三季度，116 只新股募资逾 3880 亿港元，为去年同期两倍以上。

04  The Price of Adding People

04  加人的价码

To staff these offices, Skadden needs both people and money. When the Abu Dhabi office opened in January 2025, it was launched by hiring away a regional managing partner from a British firm; the later additions in Abu Dhabi, London, and Houston also mostly came from elsewhere — in June it took three investment-management partners from Akin at once, and in March it hired two from Paul Hastings. Opening new offices with lateralled partners is standard practice for firms like this, but the cost is the price tag: when the lateral-hire market heats up, the cost of landing one person rises with it.

世达铺这些办公室，要人也要钱。阿布扎比办公室 2025 年 1 月设立时，是从一家英国所挖来一位地区管理合伙人去开的；今年它在阿布扎比、伦敦、休斯顿添的人，也大多来自别家：6 月从 Akin 一次带走三位做投资管理的合伙人，3 月从 Paul Hastings 挖来两位。用挖来的合伙人开新办公室，是这类所扩张的常规做法，代价是价码：横向招聘的市场一热，挖一个人的价钱就跟着涨。

Skadden has another expense that is not headcount. Jeremy London noted that this year the firm created a Chief Digital and Information Officer role, listing technology infrastructure and vendor partnerships as investment priorities. For a firm built on documents and transaction flows, that money buys how much work the same hands can handle. From the public record, both outlays purchase the same thing: letting fewer people carry heavier work.

世达还有一笔支出不在人身上。Jeremy London 提到，今年新设了首席数字与信息官一职，把技术基础设施与供应商合作列为投入方向。对以文件与交易流程为核心的所来说，这笔钱换的是同样人手能处理多少交易。从公开材料看，这两笔支出买的是同一件东西：让更少的人接更重的活。

05  The Ruler Measures More Than One Firm

05  尺子不止量一家

Where Skadden places people tracks where the hardest stretch of this business falls — in which jurisdiction: which country’s law the deal is signed under, which country’s court the case is fought in. Proxy contests are fought in New York courtrooms, hostile takeovers run under Delaware rules, the prospectus is written in Hong Kong, and Houston and Abu Dhabi take on local deals.

世达在哪儿放人，看的是这门生意最硬的那一段落在哪个法域：交易在哪一国法下签，官司在哪一国法院打。代理权争夺在纽约的法庭上打，敌意收购按特拉华的规则做，发行要在中国香港写招股书，休斯顿与阿布扎比接的是当地的交易。

To judge whether a firm has real presence in a market, three things are more reliable than the number of offices: which practice line someone leads and which city that person works in; who led the most recent deal; and what the Ministry of Justice’s filings and the rating agencies’ rankings say. When all three point to the same answer, the brand and the capacity are two different things.

判断一家所在某个市场有没有实质存在，三样东西比办公室的间数可靠：业务线由谁负责、那个人在哪个城市办公；最近一笔交易由谁牵头；司法部的备案与评级机构的榜单写了什么。三样指向同一个答案时，牌子和产能是两件事。

This is also why Skadden can add people on one side and lose them on the other. Firms like this are built around U.S. law; the use of overseas offices is to bring the client’s deal back to the home jurisdiction to be done. An office opens in whatever city the deal needs Skadden to show up in. Fewer people on the mainland does not mean the China practice is weaker — it may simply mean the work now sits in a different city. Weil hiring Du Shu to build a capital markets team uses the same logic: clients follow the person who can sign, not the office address.

世达可以一边加人、一边走人，原因也在这里。这类所以美国法为核心，海外办公室的用处是把客户手上的交易接回本土法域去办；交易在哪一步需要世达出面，办公室就开在哪一城。内地这边的人少了，不等于中国业务变弱，可能只是换了一个城市办公。威嘉请杜枢去建资本市场团队，用的也是同一个判断：客户跟着能签字的人走，不跟着门牌走。

Skadden has paid for this approach. When people leave, client relationships often leave with them: what Du Shu took was the lead capability on deals like SHEIN’s. Whether that can be replaced depends on who the next deal lands with.

世达为这套做法付了代价。人走了，客户关系往往跟着走：杜枢带走的是希音这类交易的牵头能力，能不能补回来，要看下一笔交易落给谁。