Feng shui your firm: How feng shui affects BD in Greater China

The modern elements of law firm office design are enhanced productivity, reduced costs, increased flexibility and greater creativity, while supporting cultural change. Asian ?law firms – and lawyers – are no exception to this, yet their design imperatives are also subject to ancient philosophies like feng shui.

Western views might suggest that the true potential of feng shui has been trivialised by popular misconceptions about trinkets, charms and symbolic remedies. Its adherents suggest it can have positive benefits that can be delivered very effectively in removing unbeneficial chi, ?or negative energy. Detractors suggest it can do more harm than good in complicating design. Others go with ?the flow, chi or no chi.

With an increasing number of international law firms leasing new ?offices in Hong Kong and Singapore ?as they expand their China practices, should feng shui be taken seriously – at least a mark of respect to Chinese clients and fee-earners?

Designers say there are links between feng shui and good design principles. For Paulo Ribeiro, a UK-based interior designer, good design is ultimately about achieving a harmony of the elements – not dissimilar to the aims of feng shui.

What does feng shui mean in an Asian context? “Feng shui is primarily about occupying a building with surroundings that positively support it,” says Sylvia Bennett, a feng shui master.

This, she notes, is done by “ensuring helpful chi is harnessed and can flow freely without being obstructed. Chi is natural life force – it is what brings vitality to a place, and the question was and still is ‘how will the chi flow?’”

Sarah McAllister, also a feng shui master, says that feng shui can be ?likened to an alphabet that allows you to put together a language of space. While some people may find the idea of space influencing health, wealth and happiness difficult, like Ribeiro, she notes that many are “more open to it being influenced ?by aesthetics”.

The Eastern philosophy has its origins in Neolithic times. Bennett says the original ancient feng shui masters were really land surveyors. “They assessed the landscape, where the water courses were running and if they were providing enough clean water for people to live, the movement of the prevailing wind, and so on.”

Architects now work with ideas about space and how to use it beneficially in a holistic way, if not in a strictly feng shui way, notes McAllister.

Balancing perspectives

There are a variety of views as to how seriously modern feng shui practice is taken by lawyers in Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

There are those who believe in the practice but side with allowing modern design aesthetics to trump Chinese philosophies in office design. There are those who are skeptical, but tolerate it ?for the sake of partner harmony. And, ?there are those who have no strong feelings either way.

In reality, the practice is more often seen as part of a duty of care towards one’s staff or a necessary formality.

Patsy Lau, the office manager of Iu, ?Lai & Li, a small all-Chinese Hong Kong law firm, is personally a believer in feng shui, although the philosophy has no official application within the firm, she says.

Those who do practice feng shui, she notes, “may put a plant here or there, or a sculpture or water feature, but they are not obviously elements of a feng shui display”.

In Singapore, Lee Suet-Fern, senior director at Stamford Law, says she balanced her own views with the need to accommodate others when moving to new premises in the Ocean Financial Centre.

While not a believer in feng shui herself, she says she was conscious that her colleagues were, and so brought in a feng shui consultant to assess the office move to keep her directors happy.

Previous experience, she says, showed that some aspects of feng shui can be inconvenient in terms of office design, so she was keen to avoid any repetition of these problems. She told partners: “If you consult a feng shui man, I’m prepared to pay for it, provided you don’t mess with the design in any significant way”.

Like Lau in Hong Kong, she says some adhere to feng shui in a modest way, with “a picture of a mountain with a waterfall facing in a certain direction, or they will have a water feature in their office”.

She estimates that slightly less than half of the firm’s members support feng shui, with some belonging to the “there’s no harm, go ahead with it anyway” camp, but support is more prevalent among ?non-lawyers.

Lee’s views are shared by Gordon Gao, a partner at Fangda Partners in Beijing. Gao says he does not believe in feng shui at all, but “as everyone else believes in it, we chose the best property there is”.

His firm took an office into the China World Tower, “the most expensive and tallest building in Beijing”, he says, wryly. “In any event, it is like a kind of advertisement and it attracts clients. In ?that sense, it is auspicious.”

“I was in full support of the move, because it provides a prestigious address, and it must have excellent feng shui as the developer cares about and knows more feng shui than we do”.

Gao is also frank about the advantages of the firm’s location to Western clients, saying: “If the taxi driver does not know ?our building name, you can just tell him ‘the tallest building in Beijing’ and that does the trick each time”.

He suggests that most modern Chinese lawyers pay lip service to feng shui. “It would be hard to find anyone ?who believes in feng shui personally,” ?he says. “Most people pretend to believe just because they think others do – the same approach as I take.”

However, he adds that firms often bring in a feng shui master to avoid upsetting traditionalist clients or support staff.

Respecting values

With an increasing number of US and UK-based law firms seeking to establish a presence in Asia, balancing traditional values and modern design sensibilities is important. Some international firms, like their Asian counterparts, accept that it has aesthetic value; others say that it is part of the cultural price of keeping staff happy.

Hogan Lovells’ head of BD in Asia, David Craigen, says that when his firm moved to new larger premises in Hong Kong in 2008, “we didn’t officially consult a feng shui master. However, our local project team had an innate sense of what constitutes good feng shui and this found its place in the plans”.

The same attitude is borne out by Robert Lewis, who has practised in several international and Chinese firms, most recently moving to Zhong Lun from Allbright Law Offices, which he joined ?in 2010.

His first experience of feng shui – in what was then Lovells’ Beijing office – was in what he recalls was “a rather dumpy place in Cosco Plaza”. He says the firm decided to move to upgrade its space and because the office was in suite 414, which was considered extremely unlucky because ‘four’ is phonetically similar to the Chinese word for death.

When the firm decided to move to Oriental Plaza, Lewis says: “Before we started with the actual decorative works, my colleagues said they thought it would be appropriate to get the feng shui ?master in”.

Reflecting on the experience, Lewis says he spotted an area perfect for his own office, but the feng shui master disagreed, saying he should be located ?not far from the reception area and in an office that looked outside, towards another ?office building.

A second area identified by the feng shui master was the positioning of his desk. He was told to have his back facing the wall, not the window, as this position would make him very famous. As it turns out, Lewis has since achieved fame by being one of the first lateral partner hires by a leading Chinese firm from an international firm.

The most significant change was ?to an office opposite Lewis’ office. “The straight corner of it was pointing directly into my office, which was just terribly ?bad from a feng shui perspective,” he reflects. “That corner was just going to ?be a wedge causing absolute havoc.” ?So, they rounded it off.

Lewis notes that, while he is less ?taken with its mystical aspects, he ?thinks feng shui has some value from ?an aesthetic perspective. “As long as they’re attractively rendered, I’m all in favour of pictures of mountains, waterfalls and streams,” he says.

Stephen Wozencroft, a partner in the Hong Kong office of Chinese firm Jun He, says he has had to take feng shui seriously, if not for his own sake. “Whenever I’ve moved into a new office, they’ve felt duty-bound to bring in the feng shui master to ensure the high-ranking partners get auspicious rooms,” he says.

“I think that it’s all about appealing to the expectations of the rank and file of the office. It’s not about what you believe personally as the partner making the cheque out to the feng shui master. You’d get a negative vibe from the support staff ?if you didn’t consult the feng shui master.”

Another common reason for designing an office to feng shui principles is ensuring it reflects the firm’s culture and position. Says Lee: “We’ve been quite conscious from a design perspective that it should really speak to our DNA. It should reflect that we’re professional, conservative and discreet, but that we’re also prepared to think outside of the box.”

Those same concerns are shared by Poh Lee Tan, managing partner of Baker & McKenzie’s Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Vietnam offices. She says she wanted to create an office environment “that reflects our Asian roots, and the prestige and sophistication associated with a premier global law firm’s workplace”.

Without mentioning feng shui by name, she references that sensibility in mentioning that “one of the more prominent features of our Hong Kong offices is the ‘dancing dragon’ – it takes the form of a free-standing ‘fin’ in both offices acting as shelving as well as a space divider and is a distinct sculptural element in the main reception area”.

She adds: “Clients appreciate the unique and tasteful interior design, as well as the efficiencies that the design generates”.

 

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Feng shui explained

Feng shui emerged by around 6,000 BC, when people started to settle and were looking to find the right site for their dwellings so that they could flourish, says feng shui master Sylvia Bennett.

Seeking safe locations, they sought sheltered positions that would protect them from invaders, generally building houses facing south with a protective mountain behind, and hills to each side.

Having predated the development of writing in the Shan dynasty, around 3,500 years ago, feng shui’s influence has also been found in other Chinese philosophies, such as I Ch’ing and Confucianism.

Bennett says feng shui can address unbeneficial chi. “It is ideal to work at the development stage, although even after places have been built and furnished there is a huge amount that can be done very effectively.”

She gives an example: “Water in feng shui is known as the wealth enhancer – it brings prosperity. In ancient times, wealth meant having food and spiritual abundance, but in this case we seek business prosperity. Water is an extremely effective remedy when installed externally, but works very well internally as well.”

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Enabling prosperity

There are two schools of thought when ?it comes to feng shui: those who pay ?lip service to Asian staff and clients ?and those who have seen first-hand ?the significant improvements that feng ?shui brings.

For law firms, feng shui often ?means two things: clear communication and giving the firm the best chance ?of success.

The physical placement of the firm’s leaders is usually a key consideration. “It’s not just a question of selecting any office because it’s the biggest. The best place for them to sit could change depending on their horoscope, the type of business and a variety of other factors,” says McAllister.

“There’s a saying that where attention goes, energy flows. Human attention is as much energy, just as the relationship with the landscape is natural energy.”

To Bennett, the key to feng shui is location, location, location – she says ?it’s unrealistic to expect to find the ?perfect location, but there are various clever adjustments that can help to enhance buildings.

She notes that law firm entrances are “very important”, especially reception areas. “You have to observe how the chi comes in and its quality. Is the door big enough? Is the doorway clear? Is there adequate space in reception, can enough of the chi gather there to generate throughout the building?”

There is also the skill of individual ?desk positioning, as “everyone has a personal direction and will feel most comfortable facing it”, plus ‘energy clearance’ where negative chi builds up through fee-earner conflict.

Messy desks piled high with papers and files can also affect fee-earner performance and productivity. “Good storage solutions create clear space. ?In basic feng shui terms, the chi can circulate better in a clear space, as it won’t pick up any negative energy from the lawyers’ files,” adds Bennett.

Regardless of attitudes towards feng shui principles among individual partners, one thing is clear: showing respect and consideration for the cultural values of others is essential to develop a harmonious Greater China practice.
 

Ben Rigby and Ben Lewis are freelance legal journalists.